Scientists predict Earth could get eighth continent and new ocean sooner than we ever thought

Scientists are predicting that Earth's eighth continent could develop a lot sooner than initially thought.

We'll be long dead when/if the eighth continent emerges around the eastern coast of Africa - but it appears that the gap is widening quicker than scientists had anticipated.

But it's not only a possible new continent we'd need to think about as experts, such as Professor Ken Macdonald of the University of California, have also explained that the separation would likely make a new ocean, too.

Scientists have revealed where the most likely location an eighth continent could form from (Getty Stock Images)

Why is there talk of an eighth continent?

So back in 2005, a 35-mile long fissure was discovered in Ethiopia’s desert, which has continued to widen by 6-7mm a year.

This has been caused by movements tectonic plates that are pulling away from one another, creating the Somali and the Nubian plates.

The movement of these plates is basically what causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and if they keep pulling apart then - in theory - it'll create an eight continent.

Already, you can see from photos that the rift runs through Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania.

We won't be alive to witness it (Getty Stock Images)

When are we likely to have an eighth continent?

Although experts have previously predicted that it'd take tens of millions of years for the process to fully take place, MacDonald reckons it'll happen in a one to five million years - best case.

As for the potential new ocean, Macdonald added that water from the Indian Ocean 'would come in and flood what is now the East African Rift Valley', creating an ocean as potentially deep as the Atlantic.

"In the human life scale, you won’t be seeing many changes. You’ll be feeling earthquakes, you’ll be seeing volcanoes erupt, but you won’t see the ocean intrude in our lifetimes," he told the Daily Mail. "There's slippage and faults creating earthquake activity, along with visible signs of active volcanoes.

"In recent years, the main breakthroughs have been figuring out exactly where the branches of this rift system go.

"The northern part was reasonably well understood, going through Djibouti and into Kenya, but going south from there, people really had very little idea."

He also told Live Science that the rifting pace is 'very slow, about the rate that one's toenails grow.'

Macdonald suggests water could come in from the Indian Ocean (Getty stock images)

Where could the eighth continent be?

Ex-NASA consultant Alexandra Doten explained on her Instagram (via The Daily Mail) that Eastern Africa could become it's own continent following the split, saying: "The line along the border is the African Great Lakes. These are some of the largest lakes on Earth.

"This is 25 percent of all of the unfrozen surface fresh water on the planet, and they already hold about 10 percent of all of Earth's fish species.

"The lakes formed because Eastern Africa is separating from the rest of the continent. That Somali plate is continuing to move even further east, creating a giant rift valley right here. It keeps going."

"The rate of extension is fastest in the north, so we'll see new oceans forming there first," added professor Sarah Stamps.

"Most previous studies suggested that the extension is localised in narrow zones around microplates that move independently of surrounding larger tectonic plates."