What causes the trunk is cracked / the tree split down the middle?
Codominant stems with included bark — bark trapped inside the union instead of wood, so the two stems were never structurally joined — is the classic origin, and Bradford and Callery pear, silver maple and box elder are the repeat offenders across central Indiana subdivisions. Lightning strikes, frost cracks, and weakly attached regrowth from old topping cuts account for most of the rest.
What you'd see
A vertical opening you can slide a coin or a finger into. Two stems separated at a V-shaped union with a gap that has visibly widened. Bark peeled back along the seam, sap or water weeping from it, and — the decisive one — the two halves of the canopy drifting apart independently when the wind moves them.
Related
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