Geologists claimed discovery of 8th Continent 'Zealandia' beneath Pacific Ocean
A team of geologists claimed to have discovered a submerged continent beneath the South-West Pacific Ocean. The submerged continent is named 'Zealandia'.
The paper titled 'Zealandia : Earth's hidden continent'
was published in the journal of Geological Society of America and the lead author of the paper is Nick Mortimer, a geologists at GNS Science in Dunedin, New-Zealand.
If the discovery is accepted by the scientific community, then world will probably have an 8th continent to study in future maps and atlases.
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| 8th Continent- A New Invention |
Memorable Points-:
- The discovered continent is two-third the size of Australia and it is 94% under water.
- The land mass of the submerged continent is 4.5 million square kilometres.
- Its highest points, viz., New-Zealand and New Caldeonia, thrust above the surface.
- It is believed to have broken away from Australia about 80 million years ago during the break-up of the super-continent known as Gondwanaland.
Why 'Zealandia' is believed to be a Continent?
Acording to geologists, the new found 'Zealandia' meets all criteria applied to the Earth's Seven Continents.
These are :
- It has an elevation above the surrounding area
- It has a distinctive geology
- It has a well defined area
- It has crust much thicker than that found on Ocean floor
- Asia
- Europe
- Africa
- North-America
- South-America
- Australia
- Antarctica
What is the difference with earlier conclusions?
The discovery is not new; rather it proves what has long been suspected. Since 1920's, geologists in their papers have been using the word 'Continental' to describe various parts of New-Zealand and the Catham Islands and New Caledionia.
The difference is now that geologists have gathered enough
information to change 'Continental' to the noun, 'Continent'.
Early in the previous century, geologists had found granite from sub-antarctic islands near New-Zealand and metamorphic rocks on New Caledionia that were indicative of Continental Geology.
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