The East African Rift System is a zone of crustal extension in eastern Africa that stretches from the Afar Triangle in Ethiopia to the Zambezi River in Mozambique. The rift is caused by the movement of the African Plate away from the Arabian Plate and the Somali Plate. This movement has created a series of faults and grabens (down-dropped blocks of crust) that are slowly pulling apart the African continent.
The most active area of rifting is in the Afar Triangle, where the Red Sea is widening and the Danakil Depression is sinking. Magma is rising from the mantle and forming new oceanic crust in the Red Sea, and the Danakil Depression is subsiding as the crust is pulled apart.
If the East African Rift System continues to develop, it could eventually lead to the formation of a new ocean basin and the splitting of the African Plate into two separate plates. However, this process is likely to take millions of years to occur.
