What is the hunt for an 8th continent?

 

As you might well have heard before, the search for an 8^th continent is on and how long do we expect it to take? Well, nobody remains really sure about that but we can still give you information about everything we know on the topic of the mystery continent.

Where would it be?

The new great 8^th continent would be called Zealandia and as the name correctly suggests, it would emerge from the submerged islands present in far south east Asia. This continent would consist of islands like New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Timor Lest, The British Indian Oceanian territory and Bougainville, which becomes an independent in 2027. These islands are currently considered a part of Asia and almost all are foreign territories, except for New Zealand, of big powers: France, UK, USA and even Japan, Russia or China. Although you may not know it, all these countries are rich in oil and supply large quantity resources to the big powers. These islandic countries want that to end, and perhaps a new continent would be the best way to go through it.

Topographical Features:

As mentioned earlier, this continent is almost completely submerged under water that is why there won’t be those many volcanoes in the area but if you think you should start living there because of that, you are wrong! That is so because almost every other possible natural disaster occurs in the region. For a submergedcontinent, typhoons, cyclones and tsunami of high pressure and force are natural occurring’s. This continent is also located right in the center of two tectonic plates, which means earthquakes of severely high magnitudes are normal.  Though, the climate would be something well suited! As you know, global warming is occurring at a high rate and because the temperatures here are really low and cold, the global warming would make conditions not only livable but also well suited for life.

Who gave this idea and how old is it?

Geologists have mixed views on how old the area actually is, but is known is that it is much larger than one could imagine for a submerged continent. According to us, Zealandia was formed billions of years ago when human life didn’t even exist. The idea of a brand-new 8^th continent was given by Mr. Bruce Luyendyk who was a European geologist himself. The idea was first proposed by him in 1995, but according to many sources it is considered that the idea of Zealandia is much older than 1995, some thousands of years ago at the very beginning of human life existence.

Why is the announcement being delayed more and more?

There are several reasons to this. At first, some of the countries themselves are waiting for an appropriate time to be announced as the new continent. Who knows, perhaps a world war when the big powers are busy elsewhere……… But then there are still doubts to whether or not Zealandia is ready to be a continent anyway. Why is that so? It can be said that there is not enough bit of ‘land’ in Zealandia to be able to get declared as a continent. Then, as mentioned earlier, Zealandia is extremely prone to natural disasters which do make living there not so safe. This does mean that the announcement is being delayed but eventually a decision has to be made and one could sense, its not that far away.

So there you have it then, the interesting story of whether or not we are about to witness an 8^th continent come into life, who knows about that one, only time will tell.

FAQs

FAQ 1: Is Zealandia the 8th continent?

Zealandia is approximately the area of greater India and, like India, Australia, Antarctica, Africa, and South America, was a former part of the Gondwana supercontinent (Figs. 3 and 5). As well as being the seventh largest geological continent (Fig. 1), Zealandia is the youngest, thinnest, and most submerged.

FAQ 2: Is Zealandia rising or sinking?

Fossils in drilling cores collected by International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 371 scientists indicate that portions of northern Zealandia rose 1 to 2 kilometers while other sections subsided about the same amount, before the entire continent sank another kilometer beneath the waves.

FAQ 3: What is the 9th continent?

The Zealandia continent is largely made up of two nearly parallel ridges, separated by a failed rift, where the rift breakup of the continent stops and becomes a filled graben. The ridges rise above the sea floor to heights of 1,000–1,500 m (3,300–4,900 ft), with a few rocky islands rising above sea level.