Geological report taken out of context to claim that new ocean has emerged in East Africa

Published on August 18, 2025 at 10:23
3 min read
By Tolera FIKRU GEMTA, AFP Ethiopia

Last May, a US magazine reported on a geological change taking place in Africa that could be very slowly splitting the continent apart. A video post recently circulating on Facebook uses a screenshot from the report to claim that a new ocean has emerged in East Africa, uniting Ethiopia and Djibouti. However, this is misleading: The report explains that geological processes in northeast Africa, which could form a new ocean over millions of years, are gradually creating a separate tectonic plate for Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea. It does not state that a new ocean has already formed, nor that Ethiopia and Djibouti are uniting.

The post shared on Facebook on August 5, 2025, in Amharic claims: “Ethiopia and Djibouti are uniting. Scientists have announced amazing findings.”

“The new ocean has been formed,” adds the post.

Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on August 14, 2025

The post contains 90 seconds of footage showing images of volcanoes and rifts in northeastern part of Africa. Photos of Ethiopian and Djiboutian leaders are also displayed.

The video begins with a male narrator repeating the headline of the story.

“Ethiopia and Djibouti unite. Scientists have announced tantalising findings. The scientists say that the Red Sea is expanding to the East African countries, which has created a new ocean,” he adds.

As the speaker talks, a screenshot of a report appears on the screen with the headline “This Continent is Splitting and Might Create a New Ocean on Earth".

He goes on to claim that scientists confirm that the earthquakes that have occurred in Ethiopia, Turkey and Egypt are creating a new ocean in Ethiopia.

“It is confirmed that Ethiopia and Djibouti are the birthplace of the new ocean,” he further claims, adding, “The event will dramatically change the shape of the earth”."

As he speaks, East African maps, volcanoes, earthquakes and bodies of water are again shown on the screen.

In 2005, a dramatic fissure more than 35 km long suddenly opened in Ethiopia’s Afar Depression. Scientists said this was a vivid example of rapid crustal deformation and provided real-time evidence of a rift taking place over millions of years (archived here).

However, neither the report nor other studies confirmed the emergence of a new ocean.

No new ocean

Using keyword searches, AFP Fact Check identified the screenshot used in the video. It was taken from a Travel + Leisure magazine article published on May 14, 2025, and titled “This Continent Is Splitting and Might Create a New Ocean on Earth.”

The article explains that tectonic activity in northeastern Africa — particularly in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea — is very gradually causing the land to pull apart (archived here).

Screenshot of the original report by Travel + Leisure (left) and the misleading post, taken on August 15, 2025

The article clearly states that it would take millions of years for such an ocean to develop.

It cites the London Geographical Society’s website: “In the future, as extension continues along the rift, the rift valley will sink lower and lower eventually allowing ocean waters to flood into the basin. If rifting continues, new basaltic oceanic crust may form along the centre of the rift producing a new narrow ocean basin with its own mid ocean ridge between the Nubian and Somalian plates.”

The article does not claim that a new ocean already exists in East Africa, nor that Ethiopia and Djibouti are uniting as a result.

No study supports these claims. What scientists have documented is an ongoing tectonic rifting process that is not yet complete and will continue over a vast timescale.

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