<
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230928-the-mysteries-of-the-worlds-eighth-continent>
"In 1820, a Russian ship packed with sailors and, oddly, penguins – destined
for the men's dinner – spotted a towering shore of ice on the horizon. This was
the first ever sighting of the Fimbul Ice Shelf, and it marked the official
discovery of a new continent: Antarctica. It also cemented the modern idea,
upheld by most maps across the English-speaking world, that there are seven
major landmasses.
Today, schoolchildren, explorers and politicians generally accept the neat
division of the world's ground into these simple units, which include Europe,
Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica.
But in 2017, the story took an unexpected turn – the seven-continent model has
been a mistake all along. Enter Zealandia, a long-lost land to the southeast of
Australia, otherwise known as the planet's forgotten eighth continent.
Scientists had long predicted the existence of this bonus southern landmass,
but it remained missing for 375 years – largely because it’s almost entirely
submerged under 1-2 km (0.6-1.2 miles) of water. Now they are beginning to
unravel its secrets.
This month, an international team of researchers released the most detailed
maps of Zealandia to date – incorporating all five million square kilometres
(two million sq miles) of this underwater region and its geology. In the
process, they have uncovered hints as to how this mysterious continent formed –
and why it has been obscured beneath the waves for the last 25 million years."
Via
What Could Go Right? October 5, 2023:
https://theprogressnetwork.org/natural-disaster-deaths-declining/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
