Image - GSA
Geology books will likely have to add a new continent shortly: Zealand. With an area of 4,9 million kilometers, it is almost totally submerged in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, to the point that its only visible parts are New Zealand and New Caledonia.
It was recently found by scientists from the New Zealand center GNS Science, who had been investigating the possible existence of the continent 20 years ago. Now, through data collected by underwater sensors, they have been able to discover an area that meets the necessary conditions to be classified as a continent.
You might think that having almost 95% of its territory under water would be enough to not classify it as a continent, but the truth is that having a well-defined area, a crust thicker than the oceanic floor and being higher than the area that surrounds it, they have led it to the category of continent, according to the study published in the journal of the Geological Society of America (GSA).
Geologist and research leader Nick Mortimer said this discovery will serve not only to add to science books, but also to power »explore the cohesion and disintegration of the continental crust"Since it is" the finest and smallest continent ever found "which, despite being submerged, has not been fragmented.
Image - GSA
Mortimer and his team hope that Zealand will be recognized by the scientific community and appear on the world map. Not surprisingly, it is a territory that, despite being almost completely under water, according to the data set from satellites and research searches that have been used to find it, it is a continent. But for that they will have to wait for other researchers to mention it in their studies.
You can read the study here (It is in English).