New ocean forming in Africa

Scientists from several countries have confirmed that a 35-mile-long rift in the desert in Ethiopia will eventually become a new ocean, according to LiveScience .

Researchers discovered the gigantic crack in the desert in 2005 . At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial.

A new study, published in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters , suggests the volcanic processes at work beneath the Ethiopian rift are nearly identical to those at the bottom of the world's oceans, and the rift is indeed likely the beginning of a new sea.

Similar rift activity is reportedly slowly parting the Red Sea as well.

A volcano that erupted at the northern end of the Ethiopian rift pushed magma up through the middle of the rift area and began to separate the desert floor in both directions, according to the researchers.

"We know that seafloor ridges are created by a similar intrusion of magma into a rift, but we never knew that a huge length of the ridge could break open at once like this," said Cindy Ebinger, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester and co-author of the study.

Although unlikely, it's possible the volcanic activity could suddenly break apart the tectonic ocean plates and pose a serious threat to people living near the rift.

It's more likely that the ocean will form slowly and the Red Sea would eventually pour into the new sea in about a million years. The new ocean would connect the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization created the fifth and newest world ocean -- the Southern Ocean -- from the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The new Southern Ocean completely surrounds Antarctica.