A giant plume of super-heated rock rising up from near Earth's core could help explain mysterious distortions linked with a giant tear in the planet's surface that appears to be splitting Africa in two, a recent study finds.
Across the planet, huge gashes in Earth's surface known as continental rifts are ripping landmasses apart. The largest active continental rift is the East African Rift, a network of valleys that is about 2,175 miles (3,500 kilometers) long, stretching from the Red Sea to Mozambique.
