Get to know Zealandia, the Eighth Continent on the Lost Earth

Generally we know the number of continents in this world is seven. However, there is one continent that is rarely known because it is currently below sea level .

The eighth continent is named Zealandia or Te Riau-a-Maui in the Maori language.

Zealandia is also known as the continent of New Zealand. This continent is a period of the earth's crust that almost sank after separating from Australia and Antarctica about 60-130 million years ago. The name and concept for Zealandia was first proposed by Bruce Luyendyk in 1995. However, further research to prove Zealandia as a continent was only revealed in 2017.

A research team led by Nick Mortimer from GNS Science officially established the continent of Zealandia on the world map in 2017. For decades, they have carried out research to prove that Zealandia is like other continents that are large, relatively tall, have a thick crust, and contain rocks. granite or greywacke.

The findings of GNS Science prove that the land area of the continent of Zealandia is 4.9 million kilometers wide. By using a detailed mapping method, the shape of the seabed will be clearly visible. This mapping provides knowledge about New Zealand's tectonic processes as well as traces the origin of the formation of Zealandia.

"We have created this map to provide an accurate, complete and up-to-date picture of the geology of New Zealand and the southwest Pacific region - better than any we have ever had before," said Mortimer.

Launching from geologyin.com, Zealandia consists mostly of two parallel mountains.The two are separated by a failed rift process, in which the continental rift breaks and becomes a graben fault. Then this fault produces mountains above the seabed to an altitude of 1,000-1,500 meters above sea level.

Quoted from a journal entitled A hidden Rodinian lithospheric keel beneath Zealandia, Earth's newly recognized continent, a geologist in New Zealand, Rose Turnbull, revealed his discovery that the continent of Zealandia is older than previously thought. He noted that the age of the old rock in the Tasman District is about 500 million years old and is related to the supercontinent Gondwana.

"This new study has allowed scientists to place Zealandia into a family of continents originating from Rodinia," Turnbull said. He added that to use a human analogy, the current eight continents have an older ancestor than Gondwana, Laurasia, and Pangea.

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