A new rift forming beneath Zambia could eventually split the African continent apart, a new analysis of geothermal springs indicates.

The Kafue Rift is part of a 2,500km-long zone running from Tanzania in the east to Namibia in the west and likely as far as the mid-Atlantic ridge .

This rift could become a new tectonic plate boundary and lead to the break-up of sub-Saharan Africa , researchers from Oxford University say.

“The hot springs along the Kafue Rift of Zambia have helium signatures which indicate that the springs have a direct connection with the mantle, which lies between 40 and 160km below the Earth’s surface,” Mike Daly, an author of a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science, explained .

“This fluid connection is evidence the fault boundary of the Kafue Rift is active and therefore the Southwest African Rift Zone is too and may be an early indication of the break-up of sub-Saharan Africa.”

Researchers first suspected this was happening when they found high levels of…