It's not a hole, but it's still scary -- Scientists take their first look at the BANDA RIFT, a crack in the earth over 20,000 sq mi in area!

Scientists have taken their first look, and the findings are alarming.

Scientists are expressing concern that an exposed fault on the Pacific sea floor could rupture, causing catastrophe, particularly in the South Pacific. It is only a matter of time before a megaquake and tsunami strike the region with devastating effect.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- A series of powerful quakes have drawn scientific attention to the Banda Detachment, a 23,000 square mile area in the sea floor, four miles deep, roughly the size of the island of Tasmania, dominated by an exposed rift. The rift is an extended part of the Ring of Fire, and is a subduction zone, where one continental plate slips under another.

Subduction zones can generate some of the largest quakes on the planet, as well as massive tsunamis. As one plate slips under the other, it pulls the edge of the dominant plate down with it. But that edge eventually pops free and thrusts upward, usually every few hundred to several thousand years.

The sudden, upward pop of the seafloor, pushes a massive volume of water up, which generates a tsunami. Such a tsunami can reach heights of tens of feet.

When the fault gives way, it will generate a massive quake that lasts for several minutes. This will be similar to the Boxing Day Quake in 2004, which lasted for over 8 minutes, or the 2011 Tohoku quake off the coast of Japan, which lasted 6 minutes.

Quakes generated by these faults are long because the earth is tearing and moving like a zipper along a very long fault that can run for hundreds of miles.

The concern comes following several powerful quakes around the Pacific Ring of Fire, including several quakes around New Zealand and Japan.

When such a quake strikes, it will generate a tsunami, and it will kill people. The greatest danger will be faced in Indonesia and the thousands of surrounding islands, as well as in northern Australia. The tsunami could extend across the Indian Ocean and Pacific, reaching as far north as Alaska and as far east as Chile. The tsunami will also reach the East Coast of Africa.

Attention is coming to the fault because although scientists have known about it for 90 years, it has finally been studied for the first time.

Unfortunately, nobody knows when the fault will slip, only that it will, and when it does, it will be massive.

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