Overview
- A peer‑reviewed Nature Communications study reports the crust under the Turkana Rift in Kenya and Ethiopia is about 13 kilometers thick at its center compared with more than 35 kilometers outside the rift.
- Researchers say the rift has reached the necking stage, which is when strain focuses in the middle and the crust thins and weakens.
- Scientists estimate the next phase, called oceanization, would take several million years and would form new seafloor that could eventually let Indian Ocean water enter.
- The team used rare, industry‑grade seismic profiles with complementary imaging and Turkana Basin Institute data to map subsurface layers at high resolution.
- The study identifies signs of an older failed rifting episode that left the crust pre‑weakened and links later subsidence and fast sediment build‑up to the area’s rich hominin fossil record.