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Scientists are mapping for the first time the mysterious “lost” continent of Zealandia – which was discovered in 2017. The gigantic South Pacific landmass vanished beneath the waves 23 million years ago.
It was originally part of the gigantic Gondwana super-continent, which was made up of continents that now exist in the southern hemisphere.
Covering 1.9 million square miles, Zealandia is six times the size of Madagascar, the second largest continental fragment.
It stretches from southern New Zealand north to New Caledonia and west to the Kenn Plateau off the east coast of Australia.
About 94 percent of the land mass is underwater.
The “hidden” continent is now partially mapped thanks to a deep water mapping expedition led by the University of Queensland, The sun reported.
Chief scientist Dr Derya Gürer spent 28 days at sea aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor, exploring the northwestern edge of the continent.
“We are just starting to uncover the secrets of Zealandia,” said Dr Gürer. “It has remained hidden from view until recently and is notoriously difficult to study.”
Radar scans carried out by the team explored the contours of the close connection between the Tasman and the Coral Sea in the Cato Trough region – the narrow corridor between Australia and Zealandia.
In total, they provided 14.00 square miles of topographic data to the Seabed 2030 project.
The project aims to produce a publicly accessible bathymetric map to measure the depth of the global ocean floor by 2030.
Read more: Scientists discover new continent named ‘Zealandia’
“The seabed is full of clues to understand the complex geological history of the Australian and Zealand continental plates,” said Dr Gürer.
“These data will also improve our understanding of the complex structure of the crust between the Australian and Zeeland plates. It is believed to include several small continental fragments, or microcontinents, that were separated from Australia and the Gondwana supercontinent in the past. “
Zealandia is believed to have broken away from Gondwana 85 to 79 million years ago.
The supercontinent encompassed what is now South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia and the Indian subcontinent.
Around 23 million years ago, Zealandia is believed to have been almost completely submerged in water.
Experts have spent 20 years gathering data to argue that the submerged landmass is a continent. Their efforts have been frustrated as most of it is hidden under the waves.
The article originally appeared on The Sun
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