A photo from open sources
Scientists have long known that in East Africa there are the area of contact of two large tectonic plates under called Great Rift Valley. It occupies the territory modern states of Somalia and Ethiopia.
For many years, scientists have watched how plates move away from each other. friend with a speed of several millimeters per year, not having a suitable explanation of what is happening. Now, thanks to research by the Institute Scripps and University of California Oceanography, Science came close to unraveling this phenomenon. “Rift Valley torn to pieces. Another 50 million years, and we will have on this place is another ocean, “says study geochemist co-author David Hilton
For the first time an answer to the question of what exactly makes the parts Africa move in opposite directions. It’s all about helium. Helium tends from the bowels of the planet to the surface in two forms. Helium-4 breaks to the surface from the earth’s mantle, and helium-3 from Earth’s crust. Due to the difference in the concentrations of these types of helium in the mantle and crust A large rift valley is torn apart from the inside. In general, remember Africa as it is! 
Photo from open sources
Africa
