Groundbreaking

Groundbreaking is a term usually used to describe some minor political, scientific, or artistic innovation, or, ocassionally, digging a basement. I prefer the more geological sense, like this:
Geologist Dereje Ayalew and his colleagues from Addis Ababa University were amazed -- and frightened. They had only just stepped out of their helicopter onto the desert plains of central Ethiopia when the ground began to shake under their feet. The pilot shouted for the scientists to get back to the helicopter. And then it happened: the Earth split open. Crevices began racing toward the researchers like a zipper opening up. After a few seconds, the ground stopped moving, and after they had recovered from their shock, Ayalew and his colleagues realized they had just witnessed history. For the first time ever, human beings were able to witness the first stages in the birth of an ocean.

It's too bad that the human lifespan is five or six orders of magnitude too short to see this kind of event unfold.

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