New Ocean Forming In Africa
 
(AP) Ethiopian, American and European researchers have observed a fissure in a desert in the remote northeast that could be the "birth of a new ocean basin," scientists said.

Researchers from Britain, France, Italy and the United States have been observing the 37-mile long fissure since it split open in September in the Afar desert and estimate it will take a million years to fully form into an ocean, said Dereje Ayalew, who leads the team of 18 scienti
 
 "We believe we have seen the birth of a new ocean basin. This is unprecedented in scientific history because we usually see the split after it has happened. But here we are watching the phenomenon."
 
 "The crust under Afar is becoming like the crust found in the Red Sea," said Dereje, head of earth science at Addis Ababa University. "Once the crust is formed you will have water because it is a low area and the water will migrate from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It becomes a basin."
 
 
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/10/tech/main1115779.shtml
 
 
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