Something Is Stirring Deep Beneath Africa — and Scientists Know What It Means

Africa’s most famous geological split runs through the east of the continent, but researchers have now detected signs of another possible rupture far to the west. The evidence is not a dramatic surface crack or a new volcanic eruption; it is gas rising through hot springs in south-central Zambia.

Analysis of helium and carbon isotopes suggests that the ancient Kafue Rift is connected to Earth’s mantle and may be actively stretching again. The discovery raises the possibility that sub-Saharan Africa could eventually divide along more than one plate boundary, although scientists stress that continental separation is neither certain nor imminent.