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Zealandia, the world’s 8th continent underwater that has been discovered by scientists
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Science discoveries are some of the world’s most fascinating wonders. From space findings to geological explorations, researchers are continuously learning new things about the Earth.
Among these is the discovery of the world’s 8th continent, an entire world mostly underwater. Zealandia as it is named consists of a group of islands about six times the size of Madagascar according to the BBC, covering 1.89 million square miles or 4.9 million square kilometers.
The continent which is considered the youngest yet by scientists is similar to New Zealand with 94 percent of it under water and was part of Gondwana, a supercontinent that existed a billion years ago from which most of the world’s continents including Africa, and South America emerged.
According to the BBC, the continent was originally found by an experienced Dutch sailor Abel Tasman in 1642 but later rediscovered by a group of geologists in 2017, 375 years after the initial discovery by Tasman.
The Zealandia Island also known as Te Riu-a-Māui in the Māori language is considered the smallest, and thinnest in the world.
Its crust is said to have began being stretched that it now only extends 20km down. Scientists describe the area as a continent because its crust is made up of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks while the ocean floor is made up of basalt.
While there is more scientific exploration underway to retrieve more findings about the origin of the island, living things that were on the island among other things, Rupert Sutherland, a Professor of Geophysics and Tectonics at the Victoria University of Wellington says that it will take a lot more time and years to discover more about Zealandia.
“It's quite hard to make discoveries, when everything is 2km (1.2 miles) underwater, and the layers that you need to sample are 500m (1,640ft) beneath the seabed as well," he says. "It's really challenging to go out and explore a continent like that. So, it just takes a lot of time, money, and effort to go out and ships and survey regions," the BBC quoted him.
Zealandia, according to the Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited, is the first-ever continent to have its geology, volcanoes and sedimentary basins fully mapped out to its underwater edges.
