How Did a Miles-Long Crevice Appear in the Earth Overnight?

What’s going on in Africa?

An enormous crack spanning for miles opened up in the earth outside Nairobi, Kenya.

The 50-feet-deep crevice that sliced through a major highway measures up to 50 feet deep and 65 feet across at its widest point.

Not only has it divided the land, but the crack is dividing scientists, who can’t quite seem to come to one conclusion as to how the natural phenomenon occurred.

Geologist Ben Andrews believes the crack is a result of tectonic plates shifting.

"We’re seeing a crack that in all likelihood formed over many thousands of years, or hundreds of thousands of years," Andrews told CBS News.

Andrews explained the crack may be one of the first pieces of evidence that a piece of Africa will break off the continent in 50 million years.

But, earthquake geologist Wendy Bohon disagrees.

While she does believe that Africa will split into two in the future, she believes this crevice was caused by the weather.

“I think it’s an earth fissure, the same sort of thing you see in Arizona after heavy rainstorms,” Bohon explained. “They’re the result of heavier torrential rains that come and wash away large portions of the dirt.”

What Bohon’s theory does not explain, however, is how the crevice formed along the very point scientists have expected the continent to split.

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