Illustration showing how Africa is splitting in two due to the East African Rift, a divergent tectonic plate boundary. As a result, a part of eastern Africa will have its own coastline and will be separated from the rest of the continent. Scientists believe that the appearance of a 56-kilometre crack across the Ethiopian desert in 2005 is evidence of this phenomenon. It is estimated that it will take around 5 to 10 million years before a new ocean forms and divides the continent into two separate land masses.