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Gigantic 'mud waves' buried deep beneath the ocean floor reveal dramatic formation of Atlantic when Africa and South America finally split

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The discovery of huge mud waves off the coast of western Africa reveals that the Atlantic Ocean was born at least 4 million years earlier than scientists previously thought.

The giant waves were found in sediment cores drilled from 0.6 mile ( 1 km ) below the seabed about 250 miles ( 400 km ) west of Guinea-Bissau in 1975 .

Over the eons , more sediment has buried the waves, locking them below the surface.

The existence of these waves also suggests that the opening of the Atlantic caused Earth 's climate to warm.