Right now, it's just a 35-mile long crack in the ground, running through the desert of Ethiopia. But the rift, first detected in 2005 and now 20 feet wide in places, is almost certainly the beginnings of a new ocean, researchers have confirmed.
When it first opened, some geologists speculated that the rift would form a new ocean, but that view was controversial. New studies, however, show that what's happening in the rift is nearly identical to geological processes on ocean floors.
Studies also revealed that volcanic activity along the edges of tectonic plates can cause large sections to break up, rather than a slower process that had been previously theorized. The 35-mile rift was torn open in just a few days.
