A mystery has been solved.
Scientists have officially been able to identify Earth’s eighth continent – Zealandia – that has been missing.
As we all know, the seven continents we are familiar with are: Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Antarctica.
There is actually an eighth continent, however, which was first discovered in 1642, but has taken scientists over 300 years to find it.
Zealandia – the 8th continent.
Scientists Discover 8th 'Continent' That Had Been Missing For 375 Years
The new continent is 94 per cent underwater, with just a handful of islands, similar to New Zealand.#zealandia#WorldTourismDay pic.twitter.com/0MXHU4c4fM
— alphabetagama (@alphabetagama20) September 27, 2023
Zealandia: Map of Earth’s missing continent has been published.
Zealandia is the smallest continent on Earth at around five million square kilometres (about 1.9 million square miles), which is roughly half the size of Europe.
Your best chance to visit it is by heading down under to New Zealand. However, you wouldn’t be able to see much given that 95 per cent of it is underwater.
New Zealand research institute GNS Science announced the discovery of Zealandia, which was once believed to be a part of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana before it broke away for reasons that remain unknown.
Lost Continent of Zealandia Revealed in Detailed New Map
Zealandia, considered Earth’s eighth continent, was mostly lost to the sea. Geologists say they’ve now mapped the entire nearly two million square miles of the underwater land mass.https://t.co/J04QiYiK9b— Geology Tweets (@GeologyTime) September 26, 2023
As Zealandia began to pull away it then started to sink, resulting in much of it going underwater and never resurfacing.
Some have claimed that since Zealandia is underwater it can’t be classed as a continent however Nick Mortimer of GNS Science told Insider that the definition of a continent doesn’t have to be all about how much of it is above sea level.
He and his team produced a paper after studying the eighth continent for 20 years and finally mapped out the location of the submerged continent.
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