Australia is both a continent and a country and New Zealand is also its own country. This ensures that no island will sink, ever. I wonder if Australia is going to get upset now that it will have to share some continental limelight in the area with Zealandia? 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Nothing advances science like good old fashioned capitalism and when dollar signs start appearing, things start to move faster. Are you 35 and under? It also helps in the discovery of other underwater continental land as mentioned before in the Indian Ocean. Sources: Treehugger, National Geographic, The New Daily. They were slipping past each other a few millimeters at a time each year, and that action slowly pulled Zealandia away from Antarctica and Australia, beginning some 85 million years ago. Now, the Geological Society of America has stated that Zealandia is a geological continent in itself rather than a micro-continent or continental fragment. Earth scientist from the University of California - Santa Barbara, Bruce Luyendyk coined the phrase all the way back in 1995. The name and concept for Zealandia was proposed by Bruce Luyendyk in 1995. Zealandia has recently been given the status of a continent by several geologists who say that the long lost continent is submerged under water. Interestingly, the name stuck and has become the common name associated with what scientists are universally agreeing is a whole new continent! At 4.9 million kilometers, Zealandia is about half the size of the United States! 22 Nov, 2016 12:45 PM 3 minutes to read Parts of New Zealand are sinking at faster rates than others and rising faster, a scientist says. The story’s headline, “Tuvalu Toodle-oo,” drew on the expectation that Tuvalu would soon sink beneath the rising seas of global warming. But swaths of other continents also are submerged along their margins (light-shaded regions). He originally stated that he called the area Zealandia simply out of convenience, instead of calling all the different land areas by different names. Zealandia's watery fate was sealed by the motions of two tectonic plates that lay beneath it: the southernmost Pacific Plate and its northern neighbor, the Indo-Australian plate. When looking at the map, that adds the area of Zealandia with clear boundaries, it appears that as a result of previous studies, geologists have already begun labeling and classifying different geographic regions of the continent. While there is no formal recognition of the same by the New Zealand government, which is the major habitable administration on Zealandia; there is, however, wide interest in the media about the continent. The scientific impact about what can still be learned about Zealandia is the most interesting part about the discovery. News on all your favorite celebs, reality TV, and movies. It is interesting to consider some of the earliest species that lived and thrived on the continent. Remember that Zealandia is both volcanically and seismically active, meaning that if mother nature wants to start making noise, it could get loud! Because of its location on two different tectonic plates, there was a lot of seismic activity that caused the land to sink beneath sea level. Only 4 percent of Zealandia rises above sea level (dark gray), including New Zealand. The only catch? The continent is largely made up of two parallel ridges, separated by a failed rift. The existence of some substantial natural gas fields has caused a few lifted eyebrows across the globe. While it takes a very long time to sink or even uplift an entire continent, surprisingly, earthquake activity can accomplish some pretty amazing results! It’s not quite as simple as popping a Tums or taking some Imodium though. Stream Tracks and Playlists from ZealandiaRising on your desktop or mobile device. A tiny Pacific island state that is being submerged by rising oceans will tell New Zealand that it is not disposable. He loves to write about pop culture, including interesting perspectives on every day subjects. Do you care about your family, community and the way NZ is going? Congratulations Zealandia, you’ve made it to the show! One of the coolest points about this whole thing is that if you were to drain the ocean, it would turn up that New Zealand isn’t an island after all. Territorial waters and natural resource ownership could expand for New Zealand as a result of such a discovery. This has created a new sea floor and new aquatic life thriving in that area. There is a substantial mass of land large enough to consider a small continent that is recently getting a lot of discussion. Over 94 percent of it is submerged in the southwest Pacific Ocean, with just the islands of New Zealand and New Caledonia visible above sea level. The New Zealand government has not officially responded to the recognition of Zealandia. But, new satellite-based gravity maps of the ancient seafloor make it clear that the region is a continuous whole continent. If the whole continent were to suddenly rise out of the ocean, what is currently New Zealand would be the highest elevations! Before this, it had been a part of Antarctica, but we all know that the continents have had a long and complicated history since the beginning of the planet. Islands are connected to the planets crust. While it looks like two major islands, it is actually the tallest point of the Zealandia continent! Because of its location on two distinct tectonic plates (The Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate), Zealandia has a certain amount of volcanic activity both above and below sea level. While Zealandia lost out on most of its land above sea level, it will not be regarded as the least populous continent on the planet. While an entire continent will not rise out of the ocean as a result of an earthquake, it is very interesting to see how much of an impact an earthquake can have on landmasses. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. Most of Zealandia lies underwater. This lasted for tens of millions of years, but then some 80 million years ago (give or take) it officially split apart and became its own continental land mass, most of which was for a time, above sea level. The isolated species living here were affected dramatically around 800 years ago, when humans from Polynesia settled in New Zealand. 2 talking about this. Zealandia's submerged fossils provide valuable clues to life during those time periods. IBTimes UK tells you all you need to know about the long lost continent. While the vast majority of Zealandia is still (and likely will continue to be) under water, it’s an interesting notion that perhaps new islands and an extension of existing islands is entirely possible. That’s pretty cool for all of us that studied the names of the continents like crazy for a test on Friday back in grade school. And it’s not uninhabited.That’s because roughly six percent of the landmass’s nearly two million square miles are still above sea level as New Zealand and its outlying islands. Even today, the continental area of Zealandia is very close to Australia, but it is important to note that it is its own completely separate continent. It just goes to prove how much we still do not know about our own home planet! The rising levels of the sea are thought to have caused the sinking of the submerged lands. Zealandia is thought to have been submerged for at least 23 million years. Scientists began looking into what was beneath the waters around New Zealand a few decades ago. The idea about who may have mineral rights to much of what’s underneath the water is probably a moot point as well, although New Zealand may have a little more clout now. Central and Southern Zealandia include Chatham Rise and the Campbell Plateau. Antarctica is still mostly uninhabitable and is the least populated continent on earth. But it turns out that the discovery that Zealandia is actually a continent of its own opens up a whole new area of exploration about our planet. While it was around 30 million years ago that Zealandia submerged at its peak, it has since begun the uplift process. The sea level has risen 130 metres during that time, shrinking the country’s land mass by two million square kilometres and handing it to the sea. Believe it or not, Zealandia is actually beginning the process of rising again. In fact, all of the “islands” in the area, including New Caledonia, Norfolk Island and the Lord Howe Island Group are all the highest elevations of this exciting new continent. While scientists didn’t quite know or understand what they were dealing with (more on this later), one individual determined that giving it a name would be an important start. Some of these are named because of islands (or what we used to think were islands) above sea level. Instead of classifying New Zealand as an island only, this kind of changes the game a bit. There’s not a whole lot of competition out in that part of the world. This length of time is nearly impossible to imagine. It did take tens of millions of years to sink in the first place. It’s doubtful that the discovery of this land mass as a continent will change a whole lot of things, except maps and globes. This is evident as New Zealand has seen itself rising out of the water. Our continents have not stopped moving and they likely never will. Believe it or not, we’ve only explored a tiny percentage of the oceans and only know of about ten percent of the total species that inhabit the planet. Atoll islands such as Tuvalu are proving remarkably good at keeping their heads above water. Initially it as all land, but it slowly sank as the Tasman Sea grew, and it continued to be stretched and thinned until about 23 … In February, scientists announced that there is an eighth continent submerged beneath the ocean, and its name is Zealandia. Currently mt cook is rising 7mm a year though avalanche and collapse of the peak was measured to of lost 30m by the university otago. Researchers have discovered that New Zealand is not an island but a continent. The science about what living things once roamed this continent over a hundred million years ago is very fascinating. The geographical bodies on earth are not governed by any one country or group of countries. Zealandia lies on the boundary between two tectonic plates, the Australian plate and the Pacific plate. Islands aren’t actually floating. Surprisingly, there is no clear definition of what makes a continent except some geographical requirements, which has led to several conflicted opinions for instance the case of Eurasia, where many geologists think Asia and Europe are one entity as it is a single rigid megablock. Most recently, due to satellite technology and gravity mapping of the floor of the sea has confirmed all four of the requirements to declare a land mass a continent. Certainly, there won’t be the same level of naming as in areas that are a little more accessible on the planet, but with more discovery will come more interesting pictures of what may be awaiting us under the water. Don’t waste your time watching for the rise, or you’ll be waiting a while. The plateau is one of the Large Ingenious provinces of the world with an area of approximately … While it may seem strange, there is actually no governing body that determines official designations regarding what is and is not a continent on our planet. Geolologists say that if Earth's solid surface had first been mapped like how Mars and Venus are mapped now, Zealandia would have been investigated and identified as one of Earth's continents. A bit of the continent is above sea level, including New Zealand and New Caledonia. This is evident as New Zealand has seen itself rising out of the water. In fact, the closest thing we could come to an official designation is a revision of maps and globes from the companies that make them! It’s nice to see that there are already some names to go with different regions of the underwater land mass. But scientists believe that it sunk beneath the water approximately 100 million years ago! The ridges rise above the sea floor with infrequent rocky islands rising above sea level, Scientists identify two main portions of the continent, North Zealandia (or Western Province) and South Zealandia (or Eastern Province), Compared to other continents it has much wider and deeper continental shelves, The highest point of Zealandia is Aoraki–Mount Cook at 3724 m, The region has elevated bathymetry relative to surrounding oceanic crust, diverse and silica-rich rocks, and relatively thick and low-velocity crustal structure, Volcanism is widespread across Zealandia but generally of low volume. A nine-week voyage took scientists from around the world to drill and explore the seafloor off New Zealand and Australia. Today, 93% of it is under water, with only New Zealand and New Caledonia visible above the … Given that the entire continent has sunk beneath the water with so much seismic activity for millions of years and it has not broken apart opens the door to lots of new research. While the research on this area is not as far along as Zealandia, it is still a fascinating new development. ... and those as apparent in the sinking or rising of that that's almost opposite same, or in the Mediterranean and the Aetna [Etna] area, then we may know it has begun.-- Edgar Cayce reading 311-8. While Zealandia has been studied for many years, it hasn’t been until now that anyone considered that it is actually its own continent. In 2002, Outside magazine published a story about the imminent drowning of the South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. The area hasn’t always been seen definitively as a continent. Nick Mortimer/GNS Science. Among these, it must include the presence of different types of rock as well as a higher elevation compared to the crust of the earth. All the tectonic activity is what led Zealandia to sink in the first place millions of years ago. But we know for a fact that there are seven continents, right? ZEALANDIA is the world’s first fully-fenced urban ecosanctuary, with an extraordinary 500-year vision to restore a Wellington valley’s forest and freshwater ecosystems as closely as possible to their pre-human state. The slow separation caused Zealandia to sink, … Though due to a warming trend in climate change its technically sinking. “The scientific information we can gain from these sites has the potential to rewrite Australian history,” Dr Benjamin said. They found evidence of land-based fossils, revealing that the ancient landmass wasn't always buried beneath the waves. Mountain ranges are rising the fastest, in excess of 5 millimetres per year. A large fragment of continental Gondwanaland was separated off by the widening gap. This fragment, called Zealandia, was about half the size of Australia. The identification of this land mass as a continent under the water has some economic impact as well. In terms of size, it is the world's largest current micro-continent, about half the size of the Australian continent.. As we study this new submerged land, we can learn more about the past in terms of crust, fossils, minerals and so much more. So the South island or more correctly the southern alps are rising, however I dont know about the north island. These islands house just under five million people and account for about six percent of the land mass of Zealandia. The question of what this means politically is very uncertain. While the vast majority of Zealandia is still … Geologists have, over the years, identified seven continents in all -- Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Antarctica. This map shows the estimated or measured uplift rates in different parts of the country. Studying this continental crust is important as scientists try to learn more about the way our continents were originally formed and what they might do in the future. Listen to ZealandiaRising | SoundCloud is an audio platform that lets you listen to what you love and share the sounds you create.. 1 Tracks. While the designation of Zealandia as a separate continent is mostly a scientific fascination, no one is disputing how great of an economic impact such a distinction could create. Does not have to worry about sea level. A smart idea that seems to have stuck Dr. Luyendyk! According to geo-political arrangements parts of Zealandia, mainly New Zealand is grouped under Oceania -- the region encompassing the Australian continent, New Zealand and various islands in the Pacific Ocean that are not included in the seven-continent model. In a paper published by the Geological Society of America, the team of scientists called the area “Earth’s hidden continent” and suggested that identifying it as such will help TL:DR-No, islands can’t sink and Earthquakes have historically done anything but sink us Do you know how islands work? The total area is estimated to be approximately 4,920,000 square km of which 93% remains submerged below the Pacific Ocean. The only thing is that it’s almost completely underwater. Over 200 million years ago, there was a massive super-continent on earth that is known as Gondwana. New Zealand’s flora and fauna differs from every other large land-mass on earth due to its long isolation and uniqueness as a (near) mammal-free environment. He didn’t quite intend to name an entire continent, but rather reference the larger region of islands and land around New Zealand. Zealandia is occasionally divided by scientists into two regions, North Zealandia (or Western Province) and South Zealandia (or Eastern Province), … The more tectonic activity, the more likely for volcanic activity, though there has not been a major devastation upon the continent in modern history however. Just as scientists have discovered Zealandia as an official continent, they also believe that there could be another lost continent they are calling “Mauritia.” This submerged potential continent is located in the Indian Ocean between the Southern tip of India and Madagascar. While Zealandia has been studied for many years, it hasn’t been until now that anyone considered that it is actually its own continent. Sinking of Zealandia, Earth's hidden continent, linked to forging of the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' Zealandia had dramatic elevation changes between 50 and 35 million years ago, then ultimately sank Researchers explored deep under Zealandia's sea floor, obtaining samples of the continent. The geology of New Zealand is noted for its volcanic activity, earthquakes and geothermal areas because of its position on the boundary of the Australian Plate and Pacific Plates.New Zealand is part of Zealandia, a microcontinent nearly half the size of Australia that broke away from the Gondwanan supercontinent about 83 million years ago. There’s certainly a lot of study with 4.9 million kilometers of land. Certainly, scientists are trying to learn all they can about Zealandia, especially now that they know that once upon a time, it was above sea level. The United Nations (while interested in global science) doesn’t actually have jurisdictional authority over land classification. Scientists have just returned from a major expedition to Zealandia, a "hidden" Earth continent, likely submerged beneath the sea surface more than 80 million years ago. The earth is still largely unknown to mankind. But somewhere around 200 million years ago, it started the slow process of breaking apart. So to make Zealandia an official continent is not quite as simple as filing paperwork in a government office. This began to open 83 million years ago and persisted for about 30 million years until rifting ceased about 53 million years ago. In just a few seconds, an underwater reef was thrown about 20 feet above sea level! In fact, it kind of has a lot of impact. Underwater zones exist as well, making the area prime for activity. There are two known submerged continents, the Kerguelen Plateau and Zealandia. Consider that volcanic eruptions are kind of like the planet’s opportunity to pass gas. Sinking islands call for NZ action - NZ Herald New Zealand Herald To be clear, the underwater land is not a recent find. Today, the country of New Zealand (the largest above water portion of the new continent) has its own volcanic zones. Zealandia has recently been given the status of a continent by several geologists who say that the long lost continent is submerged under water. 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