From the Afar Depression of northeastern Ethiopia southward 2,175 miles (3,500 kilometers) through Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, the African continent is coming unstitched in a process called continental rifting....[More]

From the Afar Depression of northeastern Ethiopia southward 2,175 miles (3,500 kilometers) through Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, the African continent is coming unstitched in a process called continental rifting.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Kevin Hand

Like a shirtsleeve tearing under a bulging bicep, Earth's crust rips apart as hot rock from deep within the interior pushes up on the solid surface and stretches it thin--sometimes to its breaking point. [Link to this slide]
Kevin Hand

Like a shirtsleeve tearing under a bulging bicep, Earth's crust rips apart as hot rock from deep within the interior pushes up on the solid surface and stretches it thin--sometimes to its breaking point. [Link to this slide]
Kevin Hand

At the northern end of the East African Rift zone, in Ethiopia's Afar Depression, the rifting process has been underway for millions of years, and hardened lava flows of basaltic lava stifle vegetation across much of the region....[More]

At the northern end of the East African Rift zone, in Ethiopia's Afar Depression, the rifting process has been underway for millions of years, and hardened lava flows of basaltic lava stifle vegetation across much of the region.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Eitan Haddock

Seen at night, fresh lava flows call to mind the phantoms of local lore. [Link to this slide]
Eitan Haddock

Elsewhere in Afar, the extreme heat within the continental crust generates hydrothermal fields with boiling pools of reddish, iron-rich water. [Link to this slide]
Eitan Haddock

These bright green pools contain nearly pure sulfuric acid. [Link to this slide]
Eitan Haddock

As the two sides of a rift valley diverge, the valley eventually falls below sea level and floods. In Afar, this spectacular geologic unraveling will be complete when saltwater from the nearby Red Sea floods the massive gash....[More]

As the two sides of a rift valley diverge, the valley eventually falls below sea level and floods. In Afar, this spectacular geologic unraveling will be complete when saltwater from the nearby Red Sea floods the massive gash.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Kevin Hand

Once underwater, the volcanoes of the former rift valley become a mid-ocean ridge, where new ocean floor crust is generated between the two segments of the old continent....[More]

Once underwater, the volcanoes of the former rift valley become a mid-ocean ridge, where new ocean floor crust is generated between the two segments of the old continent. Ten million years from now, the entire East African Rift may flood--becoming Earth's newest mid-ocean ridge.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Kevin Hand