00:01We grow up looking at the world map as if its borders and coastlines are permanent.
00:05But geologically speaking, the massive landmasses beneath our feet are actually in a continuous state of slow-motion transit.
00:13In 2005, the ground in the scorching Ethiopian desert violently ripped open.
00:18The split happened continuously over a span of just a few days.
00:22This massive crack stretches 35 miles long.
00:25The newly formed fissure drops 50 feet deep into the Earth and spans 65 feet across.
00:31Geologists calculate that the violence of this sudden split compressed several hundred years of normal tectonic movement into less than
00:38a single week.
00:39This fissure is the literal beginning of a continental break.
00:42We are looking at the very first stage of a brand new ocean basin forming on Earth.
00:47The entire African continent is actively unzipping itself into two completely separate landmasses.
00:53When a continent physically divides, it creates a massive geographical vacuum.
00:58Eventually, global seawater inevitably rushes in to fill that expanding void.
01:03To understand the invisible mechanics pulling an entire continent apart,
01:07we have to look past the surface and track the subterranean pressure building directly beneath it.
01:13Welcome to the Afar Triangle.
01:15Extreme daytime temperatures hit 130 degrees Fahrenheit,
01:20and acidic geothermal pools bubble across the landscape, earning it the nickname Dante's Inferno.
01:26Below this scorched surface is a geological rarity known as a triple junction.
01:31It is the exact intersection where three distinct tectonic plates,
01:35the Nubian, Somali, and Arabian, grind against each other.
01:39Right now, the Arabian plate is slowly pulling away,
01:42while the Nubian and Somali plates separate, stretching into an expanding Y-shaped gap.
01:48As these massive plates pull outward in multiple directions,
01:51the unsupported land in the middle physically drops,
01:54creating a steep, sinking lowland rift valley.
01:57Because these three plates intercept precisely here,
02:01the Afar region provides a live natural laboratory
02:04to watch the mechanics of an ocean forming in real time.
02:07The engine driving this separation sits deep underground.
02:11Plumes of extreme heat magma continuously rise from the Earth's mantle,
02:16building immense pressure directly beneath the crust.
02:19As the magma pushes upward,
02:20the strain on the surface crust builds up like an overfilled balloon.
02:24It absorbs pressure over decades,
02:26until the rock reaches its breaking point and violently snaps.
02:30This clean line chart shows the precise millimeter-by-millimeter displacement of the region.
02:35GPS instruments mounted across the rift track a steady, year-over-year tectonic separation.
02:41As the land pulls apart, the rising magma reaches the surface and cools.
02:46The resulting rock is chemically distinct from the surrounding land.
02:49It is highly dense oceanic crust.
02:52Finding high-density oceanic rock in an arid, terrestrial desert confirms the basin is complete.
02:58The container is built, simply waiting for water.
03:02Geologists project that in 5 to 10 million years,
03:05the steady sinking of the Afar valley floor will drop the region completely below sea level.
03:10When that threshold is reached, the natural rock barrier will fail.
03:14The Gulf of Adem and the Red Sea will violently breach the boundary.
03:19Floodwaters will surge into the Y-shaped trench, bisecting the landmass.
03:22This influx creates a global waterway, altering regional weather.
03:27Consequently, this ocean creates a new geopolitical reality.
03:31Somalia and portions of Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania break away to form an independent island continent.
03:38On the other side of the newly formed strait,
03:40currently landlocked nations like Uganda and Rwanda
03:43will suddenly find themselves with prime oceanfront beaches.
03:46Earth's very geography is a continuously moving machine,
03:50driven by subterranean heat and pressure over millions of years.
03:54The global borders we rely on today capture one specific frame
03:58in a tectonic process that began billions of years ago.
04:03Subscribe to the channel for more explorations into the deep forces shaping our planet.
04:08And let us know down in the comments what you think we should name this future sixth ocean.
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