Around 200 million years back, a supercontinent called Pangaea that accounted of the entire landmass on Earth, split into different continents that drifted apart with time. The movement of tectonic plates often results in cracks on Earth's landmass and is now threatening to split the second-largest contient Africa into two parts. The crack was observed in the East African Rift System (EARS), according to Live Science.
A political map of Kenya (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Omersukrugoksu)
According to BBC Science Focus, the crack was first noticed in March 2018, when the ground tore itself apart in southwestern Kenya. Filled with volcanic ash, the tear remained undetected for several years until the region experienced heavy rainfall and water gushing through it squeezed out the layer of ash. Following this the massive crack swallowed up a portion of the Nairobi highway.
Currently, the colossal crack appears in the EARS, a network of valleys that's about 2,175 miles (3,500 kilometers) long, from the Red Sea to Mozambique. Geologists believe that this crack is rupturing the African plate into two separate parts, the larger Nubian plate and the smaller Somali plate. Live Science explains that the Somali plate is pulling eastward from the Nubian plate. Additionally, both of these plates are also breaking apart from the Arabian plate in the north, creating a V-shaped rift system in the Afar region of Ethiopia.
“The East African Rift started forming about 35 million years ago between Arabia and the Horn of Africa in the eastern part of the continent,” Cynthia Ebinger, chair of geology at Tulane University in New Orleans, told Live Science. About 25 million years ago, this rift started stretching southward and pulling apart northern Kenya.
The cause behind the crack, according to BBC, was “huge volcanic eruptions called flood basalts – which send lava gushing from emerging fissures like flood waters – and fractured the brittle continental crust into a series of faults.” Another reason could be soil erosion, as Lucía Pérez Díaz from the Royal Holloway University of London wrote in The Conversation. She explained that geologists think that this crack is an erosional gully, although questions remain about its formation in the specific location. They are trying to find out of its appearance has anything to do with the East African Rift. The crack could be the result of the erosion of soft soils into gap caused by the rift.
An image showing a gap between two landmasses (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Golf Was Here)
But is it alarming that Africa, the second-largest continent, may split apart? If Africa is ripped apart, there are different ways in which that might happen. One scenario has most of the Somalian plate separating from the rest of the African continent, with a sea forming between them. This new landmass would include Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and the eastern parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique, Ebinger said. So, Africa is indeed splitting into two continents, but, as Ebinger noted, the process may take another million to 5 million years. "The rifting right now is very slow, about the rate that one's toenails grow," Ken Macdonald, a distinguished professor emeritus of Earth science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told Live Science.
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President Donald J. Trump and photo of a forest.
Public united and adamantly opposes Trump’s plan to roll back the Roadless Rule
There doesn't seem to be much agreement happening in the U.S. right now. Differing moral belief systems, economic disparity, and political divide have made a country with so many positives sometimes feel a little lost. Everyone desperately seeks a niche, a connection, or a strong sense of community to which they can feel a "part of," rather than just "apart."
But there seems to be one thing that the country strongly unites over, and that's the "Roadless Rule." With the Trump Administration attempting to roll back conservation policies that protect U.S. National Forests, Americans are saying in harmony an emphatic "No." A nonpartisan conservation and advocacy organization, the Center for Western Priorities, reviewed a comment analysis on the subject. After receiving 223,862 submissions, a staggering 99 percent are opposed to the president's plan of repeal.
What is the 'Roadless Rule' policy implemented in 2001?
The Roadless Rule has a direct impact on nearly 60 million acres of national forests and grasslands. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the rule prohibits road construction and timber harvests. Enacted in 2001, it is a conservation rule that protects some of the least developed portions of our forests. It's considered to be one of the most important conservation wins in U.S. history.
America's national forests and grasslands are diverse ecosystems, timeless landscapes, and living treasures. They sustain the country with clean water and the wood products necessary to build our communities. The National Parks protected under their umbrella offer incredible recreational retreats and outdoor adventure.
Why does the administration want to roll it back?
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins told the Department of Agriculture in a 2025 press release, “We are one step closer to common sense management of our national forest lands. Today marks a critical step forward in President Trump’s commitment to restoring local decision-making to federal land managers to empower them to do what’s necessary to protect America’s forests and communities from devastating destruction from fires." Rollins continued, “This administration is dedicated to removing burdensome, outdated, one-size-fits-all regulations that not only put people and livelihoods at risk but also stifle economic growth in rural America. It is vital that we properly manage our federal lands to create healthy, resilient, and productive forests for generations to come. We look forward to hearing directly from the people and communities we serve as we work together to implement productive and commonsense policy for forest land management.”
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz explained the Roadless Rule frustrated land management and acts as a challenging barrier to action. It prohibits road construction needed to navigate wildfire suppression and properly maintain the forest. Schultz said, “The forests we know today are not the same as the forests of 2001. They are dangerously overstocked and increasingly threatened by drought, mortality, insect-borne disease, and wildfire. It’s time to return land management decisions where they belong – with local Forest Service experts who best understand their forests and communities."
Why are people adamantly opposed to the proposed rollback?
A 2025 article in Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, expressed its concern over the protection of national forests covering 36 states and Puerto Rico. A rescinded rule allows increased logging, extractive development, and oil and gas drilling in previously undisturbed backcountry. Here is what some community leaders had to say about it:
President Gloria Burns, Ketchikan Indian Community, said, "You cannot separate us from the land. We depend on Congress to update the outdated and predatory, antiquated laws that allow other countries and outside sources to extract our resource wealth. This is an attack on Tribes and our people who depend on the land to eat. The federal government must act and provide us the safeguards we need or leave our home roadless. We are not willing to risk the destruction of our homelands when no effort has been made to ensure our future is the one our ancestors envisioned for us. Without our lungs (the Tongass) we cannot breathe life into our future generations.”
Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, stated, "Roadbuilding damaged salmon streams in the past — with 240 miles of salmon habitat still blocked by failed road culverts. The Roadless Rule protects our fishing economy and more than 10,000 jobs provided by commercial fishing in Southeast Alaska.”
The Sierra Club's Forest Campaign Manager Alex Craven seemed quite upset, saying, "The Forest Service followed sound science, economic common sense, and overwhelming public support when they adopted such an important and visionary policy more than 20 years ago. Donald Trump is making it crystal clear he is willing to pollute our clean air and drinking water, destroy prized habitat for species, and even increase the risk of devastating wildfires, if it means padding the bottom lines of timber and mining companies.”
The 2025 recession proposal would apply to nearly 45 million acres of the national forests. With so many people writing in opposition to the consensus, the public has determined they don't want it to happen.
Tongass National Forest is at the center of the Trump administration's intention to roll back the 2001 Roadless Rule. You can watch an Alaska Nature Documentary about the wild salmon of Tongass National Forrest here:
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The simple truth is we elect our public officials to make decisions. The hope is they do this for all of our well-being, although often it seems they do not. Even though we don't have much power to control what government officials do, voicing our opinions strongly enough often forces them to alter their present course of action. With a unanimous public voice saying, "No!" maybe this time they will course correct as the public wishes.