How continents do the splits

African study reveals how land gives way to ocean crust

Breaking up is easy to do, if you’re East Africa. Researchers have discovered new details of how the Earth’s continental crust is tearing apart in Ethiopia, which will one day give birth to a new ocean.

The November 2010 eruption of the Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia, shown here, is the latest sign that the ground there is ripping apart and will one day form a new ocean.