Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent, covering approximately 30.3 million km² of land. It is home to an enormous population of more than 4.5 billion people and is the largest continent by land mass. Researchers have found that the two parts of this continent, Africa and Eurasia, have started to split apart and form an immense rift valley. This rift is known as the East African Rift, and it may be the most significant rift valley in the world.
The East African Rift is a series of deep faults in the Earth’s crust that are slowly breaking the continent apart. This process is believed to have started around 30 million years ago, and it is still ongoing today. The rift is caused by the separation of two tectonic plates, and it is slowly widening as the plates move away from each other. The splitting of the continent is linked to the East African Rift and is responsible for the formation of the Great Lakes, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.
Another significant geological feature of Africa is Paratethys, an ancient sea that once covered a large part of the continent. It was first discovered in the early 20th century, and it was the largest known sea to have ever existed on Earth. At its largest, Paratethys had a surface area of about 2.8 million square km (more than a million square miles), and it contained 1.77 million km³ of water. This ancient sea is believed to have been a source of life for many species, including the largest ant queen ever recorded.