ZEALANDIA CONTINENT, 8th continent of the world.

          What is zealandia 

     It is also known as New Zealand continent. Scientists say- it is 8th continent of the earth.most of it land mass [94%] submerged beneath of the Pacific ocean. 

              

               Area of zealandia

It has  2 million-square-mile [5 million kilometers]. It is situated east of Australia amd beneath modern-day New Zealand. It's size approx 2/3rd of Australia. 

             History of zealandia 

Scientists discovered the sprawling underwater mass in 1990s. The land mass may have been completely submerged about 23 million years ago. It was highlight in news 3 year ago because scientists gave it formal continent status. 

      Why is it in  news  nowadays 

 Scientists accurately mapped this submerged continent. This development is very crucial for geography as well as geology. 

 According to physical geography we have only 7 continents. 

1.      Asia -- There is 17.2 million square miles[44.6 million square kilometers] land. It is 1st on the world population list.  

2.      Africa -- There is 11.6 million square miles [30 million square kilometers ]  land. It is 2nd on the world population list. 

3.      North America -- There is 9.4 million square miles[24.5 million square kilometers] land . It is 4th on the world population list. 

4.      South America -- There is 6.9 million square miles [17.8 million square kilometers] land . It is 5th on the world population list. 

5.      Antarctica -- There is 5.5 million square miles [14.2 million square kilometers] land. It is last on the population list. 

6.     Europe -- There is 3.8 million square miles [9.9 million square kilometers]  land. It is 3rd largest continent in the world in the term of population. 

 

7.    Australia -- There is 3 million square miles [7.7 million square kilometers] land. It is 6th largest continent in the world in term of population. 

    Now talks according to geology. Basically geology do the study of rocks. Geological study says - There is crust available in all the continent as well as zealandia and rocks on zealandia quite similar to other continents. 

     GNS science -- a geohazards research and consultancy organization owned by the government of New Zealand. 

        This organization hopes to raise zealandia with a suite of new and interactive tools that capture the lost continent in unprecedented detail. 

   

       The Nippon Foundation - GEBCO Seabed 2030 project - a global effort to map the entire ocean floor by 2030. This project has maped about 20% of ocean floor. 

           Data for the bathymetric map of Zealandia was provided by the seabed 2030 project.  Which will reveal zealandia's bathymetry [the shape of the ocean floor as well as its tectonic history, showing how valcanism and tectonic motion] have shaped the continent over million of years. 

     Zealandia continent,  a small part of which is on land, but most of which under the sea. The colours in the above picture is showing different rock composition. The colours show continental crust in red, orange, yellow and brown hues and oceanic crust in blue. Island arc crust is pink and large igneous province crust is green. 

 

            Significance of Discovery 

  Mortimer, " we have made these maps to provide an accurate,  complete and up-to-date picture of the geology of the New Zealand and sothwest pacific area, better than we have had before. Their value is that they provide a fresh context in which to explain and understand the setting of New zealand's volcanoes, plate boundary and sedimentary basins".

  New zealand is a small country yet there is more than 12 active volcanoes. This discovery will help to understand volcanic activity.  

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