Remember when you were taught that there are 5 oceans and 7 continents? Well get ready to challenge the latter as a team of 11 geological scientists from around the world have brought to us a realization that what we know as New Zealand may just be a tip of a whole new continent hidden from the eyes of the Earth!
Published by the Geological Society of America, the study discovered that region, which is being called as ‘Zealandia’, is 94% submerged, mostly due to crustal thinning before the super continent Gondwanaland, broke up. “The scientific value of classifying Zealandia as a continent is much more than just an extra name on a list,” the scientists explained. That a continent can be so submerged yet unfragmented makes it a useful and thought-provoking geodynamic end member in exploring the cohesion and breakup of continental crust.”
Commenting on the GSA report, Earth Sciences Professor Andy Gleadow from the University of Melbourne explained that Zealandia was “what rifted away from what is now the eastern side of Australia during the break-up of the supercontinent of Gondwanaland beginning about 85 million years ago. Through the process it became severely stretched and made thinner, so it’s sitting at a lower elevation and is underwater.”
A lot of other scientist are challenging this fact as what might not be above water and free from liquid oceans per say might not be categorized as a continent. But the argument of the GSA scientists is that instead of being a number of fragmented submerged pieces, Zelandia is in fact one coherent land mass hidden beneath the ocean.
Geophysicist Bruce Luyendyk had coined the name Zealandia back in 1995 to refer to the two islands and other submerged pieces of crust that once separated from Gondwanaland. The scientist too himself thinks that this might be a realization than a discovery and will surely get approval from the concerned committees. So does this mean that we now have to mug up chapters on geography telling us there are 8 continents? Well maybe not, as scientists are thinking to merge Europe and Asia as one continent, Eurasia. Either way, looks like we have an interesting chapter in geology to look forward to!
