Scientific materials supporting the continental "Geelandia" hidden in the east of Australia will be released

It is known that there are six large continents on Earth, Eurasia Continent, Africa Continent, North America Continent, South America Continent, Australian Continent, Antarctica, but research on the existence of another continent is advancing It has been done. According to studies conducted in recent years, Australia's East / New Zealand etc. are located near "Zealandia ((JealandiaIt is becoming increasingly popular that there is a vast area equivalent to the continent, called ").

'Zealandia': New continent on Earth is sitting off Australia's coast - Business Insider
http://www.businessinsider.com/zealandia-continent-new-zealand-australia-2017-2

The Geelandia continent that the research group has been conducting is a part that is shown in gray in the vicinity of the center of the map below. It is located in the east of the Australian continent and covers New Zealand completely from New Caledonia with an area of ​​4.9 million square kilometers. This size is about 64% of the Australian continent, ranging from India to the HimalayasIndian subcontinentIt is almost the same thing.


People who do not have familiar ears are also likely to have many Geelandia continents, but their existence attracted attention since the early 2000s. Since the shallow areas of the ocean less than 1,000 meters deep were spread around New Zealand and New Caledonia, it has been thought that this area was once a continent, and it seems that it was sunk in the ocean during crustal deformation.

ByAlexrk 2

The image below looking a little wider in scope. New Zealand near the center of the red frame and the elongated New Caledonia on the upper left are connected by the shallow part of the sea (= the color of the sea floor figure is thin), and it is seen that the gentle topography close to the flat ground is formed You can take it. By the way, on the left side of the red frame is the Australian continent, and the size of the Geelandia continent may be felt from here as well.


As mentioned earlier, the continent of Zealandia has become known in the past fifteen years, but the state of scientific evidence supporting the continent was continuing. However, on February 15, 2017Geological Society of America(American Geological Society) "published results of research that has been published for over 10 years.

GSA Today - Zealandia: Earth's Hidden Continent


On the results of the research group, he was a doctor of oceanography and first proposed the existence of "Geelandia continent" in 1995Bruce Rhodijk"It was the gathering of the best-in-class scholars who presented the research, showing a thorough content by gathering strong evidence. There is a movement to dispute this theory except for the details I am telling you. Dr. Line Dyke has not joined the survey this time. By the way, "Girandia" is named by Dr. Line Dyke and its origin is a combination of three names "New Zealand", "New Caledonia", and "Gondwana".


The Geelandia continent is not a new continent made in recent years. Rather, the true figure is completely opposite and it existed about 200 million years ago from nowGondwana continentIt was thought that it formed part of. The current Antarctica was born from the Gondwana continent that began splitting about 200 million years ago, and the area that existed as a part was split and divided into the Australian continent and the Geelandia continent. As evidence, it seems to have been confirmed that the same thing as the fossil of plants found in Antarctica etc is deposited in the ground of the continental Geelandia.

The research team said that it was judged whether it can be recognized as the continent by fitting the results of the survey of over 10 years to the following four points used by geologists to judge that it is "the continent".

1. Being in a position to protrude compared with the ocean floor
2. Having diversity from the following three types of rocks: igneous rocks (produced by eruption), metamorphic rocks (metamorphosed by heat and pressure), sedimentary rocks (formed by weathered and eroded rocks)
3. Compared with the surrounding ocean floor, it is the part of the crust with thickness and low density
Four. Having a sufficiently large area not classified as "micro continent" or "continental fragment"

Based on the results of this survey, the researchers judge that the Geelandia continent satisfies up to the third of the four conditions. The remainder is "having a sufficiently large area", but it seems that there was some discussion here. The point that the main topography showing on the sea is the land of New Zealand and New Caledonia has become a big issue, but the research team has been working on "gravity" which measured the difference between minute survey results using artificial satellites and fine gravity By using maps, the Geelandia continent as a whole is one big area, supporting the fact that it is big enough to line up with the Indian subcontinent.

Also, the presence of the ocean on the earth also affected the judgment of the Geelandia continent. In this regard, the researchers concluded that if the survey of the uplifting topography was conducted on the same standards as Mars and Venus without water, the Geelandia continent was recognized as a continent from earlier and was being investigated I write down.

It has also been made clear that it is a different continent from the continent of Australia. As shown in the map below, the state of the Geelandia continent and the Australian continent are almost in contact with each other, but in reality it is another continent.


You can see details on the map on the following page. Between the continents there is a strait-like place called "Cato Trough", which separates the two continents at a distance of 25 km.

Cato Trough, Undersea Features - Geographical Names, map, geographic coordinates


Furthermore, as shown in the illustration above, the Geelandia continues to be a barrier to support whether the continental is the fact that it extends over the two crusts of the Pacific plate and the Australia plate. In this regard, the research team points out that although there are plate boundaries in the Arab region, Central America, and California in the USA, both regions are recognized as part of one "continent". "I live in California, I have a plate boundary here, and after several million years from now, the western part of California is supposed to move to the current Alaska area, when that happens, Can you say, "It's not part of North America anymore?" There is not such a thing, "he says.

Most of the current Geelandia continues to sink in the ocean, and only the area of ​​only 5% of the whole is showing up on the sea. Although it was the Geelandia continent that was once showing on the surface of the sea, it became thin as the crust was stretched by the work of plate tectonics, gradually sank into the sea, and it was said that it became like the present as a result It is thought that it is thought.


Although the existence of the Geelandia continent has been gradually revealed for many years such a mystery, there is a possibility that the country of New Zealand may have more than mere academic outcomes. The extended part of the continent surrounding the continent is "Continental margin"In the case of a country facing the ocean, the United Nations has agreed that it is decided to what extent the mining permitted by the country is permitted. It can also be said that it is an extremely important area for New Zealand because it seems that fossil fuels of several trillion yen are sleeping in the basement of the Geelandia continent.