Africa-Press – Liberia. A recent scientific study has revealed that a massive flow of hot rocks deep within the Earth may be one of the factors contributing to the slow breakup of the African continent, through its influence on the rocks beneath the East African Rift system.
This rift is the largest continental rift system in the world, where the crust and lithosphere are gradually stretching, a process that could lead to the separation of parts of the continent over millions of years, according to a report published by a local source.
The researchers relied on three-dimensional models simulating thermal and mechanical interactions within the Earth, along with more than 12 years of GPS measurements, which revealed unusual movement in parts of East Africa.
According to the results, the rocks in the region are moving not only away from the rift, as expected, but also parallel to it towards the north, and the forces near the Earth’s surface cannot explain this movement alone.
Scientists believe the cause may be the African superplume, a massive area of hot mantle material rising from deep within the Earth, extending from southwestern Africa towards its northeastern part, becoming closer to the surface of the continent as it moves northward.
The researchers also found a correlation between the direction of mantle flow and the seismic variation patterns in the rocks, which supports the hypothesis of a link between deep material movement and the surface deformations.
The study also indicates that the breakup of Africa is not due to a single force, but rather the interaction of different forces, as the forces within the lithosphere contribute to the continent’s stretching, while the deep mantle flow may be responsible for the unusual parallel movement to the rift.
Furthermore, the researchers believe these findings provide a deeper understanding of the processes that lead to continental division and the formation of rifts and earthquakes, revealing the role that the Earth’s depths can play in reshaping the planet’s surface.
