New ocean basin forming in African desert

Ethiopian, American and European researchers have observed a fissure in a desert in the remote northeast of Ethiopia that could be the “birth of a new ocean basin”, scientists said.

Researchers from Britain, France, Italy and the US have been observing the 37-mile-long fissure since it split open in September in the Afar desert. They estimate it will take a million years to fully form into an ocean, said Dereje Ayalew, who leads the team of 18 scientists studying the phenomenon.