Geologists have discovered a continent that was hidden from our eyes for nearly 375 years.
There has long been speculation about the existence of the continent known as Zealandia, or te reo a maui in the Maori language.
According to TN News, New Zealand has an area of 4.89 million square kilometres. More than 500 million years ago, it was part of the Gondwana supercontinent, which included most of West Antarctica and eastern Australia, according to a report. Indy100.
It is said to have been first discovered in 1642 by the Dutch businessman and sailor Abel Tasman, who was desperately trying to discover the “Great Southern Continent”.
Although he did not find new land, he did meet local Maori people who were initially unhappy about his arrival. However, they later provided valuable information about the surrounding lands, including the presence of a large land mass to the east.
Only in 2017 did geologists discover that the continent had been hidden from our eyes all along.
Scientists agree that there was a Zealandia that began to “separate” from Gondwana for reasons that scientists are still trying to understand.
Most of the newly discovered continent is underwater, and geologists from New Zealand research institute GNS Science used it as an example that even something that is “pretty obvious” can take a while to uncover.
“It’s a process we don’t fully understand yet, Zealandia is starting to drift away,” Tullock explained.
His colleague Nick Mortimer, who led the study, joked that it was “absolutely fascinating”, before explaining: “If you think about it, every continent on the planet has different countries, but Zealandia only has three regions.”
Worth reading:
