Beneath the waves in the southwest Pacific Ocean lies a mostly hidden realm — dubbed Zealandia — that deserves to be called a continent, geologists say.
Geophysical data suggest that a region spanning 5 million square kilometres, which includes New Zealand and New Caledonia, is a single, intact piece of continental crust and is geologically separate from Australia, a team of scientists from New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia argue in the March/April issue of GSA Today. (see 'Hidden crust' [Ed. Note: this refers to a map in source article.])
"If you could pull the plug on the world's oceans, then Zealandia would probably long ago have been recognized as a continent," says team leader Nick Mortimer, a geologist at GNS Science in Dunedin, New Zealand.
However, there is no international body in charge of designating official continents, and so the researchers must hope that enough of their colleagues agree to recognize the landmass. Otherwise, their proposal could remain more of a theoretical wish than a radical reshaping of what every child has to learn in geography class.
Mortimer, N. et al. GSA Today http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/GSATG321A.1 (2017).
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Scientists have surveyed the lost continent of Zealandia in the South Pacific:
A team of 32 scientists from 12 countries returned last week from a nine-week voyage to study the once-lost continent of Zealandia in the South Pacific. This mostly submerged or hidden continent is an elevated part of the ocean floor, about two-thirds the size of Australia, located between New Zealand and New Caledonia. Scientists said earlier this year they thought Zealandia should be recognized as a full-fledged Earth continent. This was one of the first extensive surveys of the region, and the scientists who carried it out – affiliated with the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) at Texas A&M University – have just arrived back in Hobart, Tasmania, aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution. They said their work has already revealed that Zealandia might once have been much closer to land level than previously thought, providing pathways for animals and plants to cross between continents.
Little is known about Zealandia because it's submerged about two-thirds of a miles (more than a kilometer) under the sea. Until now, the region has been sparsely surveyed and sampled.
Scientists taking part in the 2017 expedition drilled deep into Zealandia's seabed at six sites in water depths of more than 4,000 feet (1,250 meters). They collected 8,000 feet (2,500 meters) of sediment cores from layers that record how the geography, volcanism and climate of the region have changed over millions of years.
Also at Smithsonian Magazine, The Guardian, and the JOIDES Resolution blog (drilling ship).
Zealandia: Earth's Hidden Continent (open, DOI: 10.1130/GSATG321A.1) (DX)
Previously: Geologists Spy an Eighth Continent: Zealandia
(Score: 2, Informative) by isj on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:47PM
And if there were it would probably not be helpful.
Highly relevant CPG Grey video: "What are Continents?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uBcq1x7P34 [youtube.com]
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @03:50PM
By the commonly accepted definition Zealandia is a dwarf continent.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @08:01PM
I am not sure why they would call it "Zealandia"; apart from racial bias of course.
Papa-tu-a-Nuku would be a better name since the New Zealand Maori legend of Maui "fishing" up a portion of Papa-tu-a-Nuku which became NZ. Rather appropriate story it turns out.
http://www.maori.org.nz/korero/default.php?pid=sp49&parent=44 [maori.org.nz]
There are probably other cultural myths from the area that could serve also.
Rather than "Zealandia" coming from New Zealand, which was (un)originally named after dutch province!
Fuck me people are stupid...
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Sunday February 19 2017, @09:19PM
I think there should be a firm definition of continent. "Continents" are geologically very different from the other potential "land surface", ocean floors. That is to say, the geology at any one spot on the planet is either continent (basically a large chunk of various felsic rock types) or ocean (basalt). Note that continent rock is actually a large chunk of rock floating on ocean basalt. The concept of plate movement comes from the underlying basalt acting as a sort of conveyor belt moving the continent rock on top. When two such conveyor belts move toward each other, the continents eventually collide and merge into one larger continent.
Therefore, we can define one continent as one such contiguous mass of rock that is 1. either entirely on its own "plate" or 2. has merged with a mass of rock that is moving toward it on another plate.
Note that what constitutes a continent will be expected to change over time as tectonic motions change.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @02:34PM
I read a very interesting book a few years ago - can't remember the name - but it argued for a large continent of which NZ is a part. If I recall correctly, it posited that NZ itself sank and re-emerged later minus the land creatures.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday February 19 2017, @03:26PM
If only New Zealand could sink and re-emerge without the Maori.
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Monday February 20 2017, @10:58PM
I've heard of a similar theory. It definitely passed into popular culture and was even a minor plot element of the cartoon Totally Spies, Season 3, Episode 19: Feng Shui Is Like Sooo Passe. (Season 6, Episode 5 makes two visual gags about Donald Trump's hair.)
1702845791×2
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @04:13PM
... they come up with something uncreative as "Zealandia".
(Score: 4, Funny) by gawdonblue on Sunday February 19 2017, @08:02PM
Indeed, continents should have a name that begins and ends with the same letter. Two acceptable suggestions are "Noozeelun", which is spelt the way it's pronounced, and "Andawotta", which literally describes the continent.
(Score: 5, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday February 19 2017, @05:14PM
First off, the issue isn't new, nor is the name Zealandia. A quick internet search shows people arguing about this a decade ago, and the name has been around since at least a 1995 article by American geophysicist Bruce Luyendyk.
The Guardian article [theguardian.com] covering this story actually admits all of this is nothing new:
Geologists have argued in favour of Zealandia being recognised as its own continent intermittently over the past 20 years. [...] Mortimer [the lead author] told Guardian Australia that it was the first robust, peer-reviewed scientific paper to define and describe Zealandia, but its findings would offer “nothing new” for most New Zealand geoscientists. “They probably wonder what all the fuss is about.”
So what is this really all about? It's a PR campaign, as the authors admit. The Guardian article concludes:
But despite the evidence in support of it, whether or not Zealandia would come to be widely recognised as the seventh continent was dependant on history, said Mortimer. [...] “If Zealandia makes its way into popular culture and onto maps, that’s all the validation that we’ll seek.”
Here's the thing: there are lots of continental fragments [wikipedia.org] or "microcontinents." Basically, the unofficial definition of "continent" is something at least as big as Australia; anything smaller is a fragment. And, it's ALL fragments, even the "major" continents, so that term shouldn't be taken as disparaging in any way. I'm not a geologist, and I understand there's a lot of debate over cratons and the various ways of defining a (major) continent, but basically the unofficial definition boils down to: "if it's smaller than Australia, it isn't a (major) continent." This PR campaign mostly seems to want to shift that rather arbitrary dividing line by one place to admit one more continent... by why exactly stop there? It creates the Pluto problem: if you admit Pluto to the set of major planets, how can you exclude quite a few similar (and sometimes larger) bodies?
The study itself frankly starts to sound a little sad toward the end when issues of "Significance" come up:
The importance of Zealandia is not so much that there is now a case for a formerly little-known continent, but that, by virtue of its being thinned and submerged, but not shredded into microcontinents, it is a new and useful continental end member.
Oh my -- it can be "new and useful" member to the continental club? I don't mean to be overcritical of word choice, but does this sound to anyone else like somebody trying to join a sorority or something and to point out everything great about herself? "I know I'm a little thin, and that submerging of my head in the toilet bowl during hazing didn't give me the best look... but I can still be a 'useful member' -- honest!"
The authors DO make a strong case for why this continental fragment should be more thoroughly investigated to address various geological concerns, but even within the "Significance" section of the study, some of those concerns are about clarifying how "microcontinents" are created and evolve. I'm sympathetic to this group of New Zealand geologists, who want to elevate their land's status (despite the fact that it's apparently mostly submerged, pun intended). But ultimately this is mostly about an arbitrary definition, though admittedly perhaps not as clear-cut as the Pluto decision. Nevertheless, the division has to be drawn somewhere -- and what kids learn in school is already confused.
For example, why is this being called a potential "eighth continent," when geologically, Eurasia is considered a single one, thus making only SIX current continents? Answer -- the question of "continental status" was defined by cultural and historical significance, more so than geological definition. Thus, the authors are seeking to capitalize on this sort of significance by proposing membership in this "club."
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday February 19 2017, @05:44PM
If you could somehow pull the plug on the world's oceans without killing off life as we know it, the word "continent" ("Land Sticking Up Out Of The Water") would suddenly have no geological meaning [ddns.net]. As such, "Zealandia" would probably not be subject to a rush to classify it as a continent, it being contiguous with the rest of the One Single Landmass and all. Perhaps a sheep-herding province of Pangaea?
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Monday February 20 2017, @10:38AM
The picture to which you linked shows some very distinct plateaus (north and south America) on an otherwise featureless planet. Thus, I suspect that the inhabitants of such a world would come up for a word describing such plateaus. Zealandia might even be one of them.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Monday February 20 2017, @11:48AM
This reminds me of when people say that Everest is not the world's highest mountain. They claim that the largest mountain actually starts under water (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea). But surely you can claim that Mount Everest, too, starts under water, from that same spot, or from the base of the Mariana trench. This would make it not only the tallest, but broadest mountain on the planet!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @02:05PM
Yeah right. If the tectonic plate was the only thing that differentiates a continent then India would not be part of Asia, and that's not the only example. This is just the Kiwis trying to stand out from the Aussies like always.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 23 2017, @04:02AM
The continent of Atlantis was an island
Which lay before the great flood
In the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean.
So great an area of land,
That from her western shores
Those beautiful sailors journeyed
To the South and the North Americas with ease,
In their ships with painted sails.
To the East Africa was a neighbour,
Across a short strait of sea miles.
The great Egyptian age is
But a remnant of The Atlantian culture.
The antediluvian kings colonised the world
All the Gods who play in the mythological dramas
In all legends from all lands were from far Atlantis.
Knowing her fate,
Atlantis sent out ships to all corners of the Earth.
On board were the Twelve:
The poet, the physician, The farmer, the scientist,
The magician and the other so-called Gods of our legends.
Though Gods they were -
And as the elders of our time choose to remain blind
Let us rejoice
And let us sing
And dance and ring in the new Hail Atlantis!