A plume of molten rock rising from the depths of the Earth in heartbeat-like pulses is slowly tearing Africa apart—and will one day create a new ocean.

This is the conclusion of an international team of researchers who have been studying the crust and mantle beneath the Afar region of Ethiopia.

Afar is one of those rare places on Earth where three tectonic rifts meet—specifically, the Ethiopian, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Rifts.

As tectonic plates are pulled apart at such rift zones, they stretch out and thin until they break, forming a new ocean basin over the course of millions of years.