What Do We Know About the Missing Ancient Continent Under Aotearoa, Zealandia?

What do we know about the missing ancient continent under Aotearoa, Zealandia?

New map of Earth’s continents. Credit: Supplied. A new review brings together all the geological research that has been done on the ancient underwater continent known as Zealandia. Zealandia, or Te Riu-a-Māui in the Māori language, only pokes above the surface of the waves in the islands of New Zealand (Aotearoa) and New Caledonia. What is known about the ancient continent is largely based on onshore geological studies and offshore mapping. All …

95 Percent Of The World’s Youngest, Smallest, And Most Mysterious Continent Is Underwater

Have you heard of Zealandia? We only confirmed its status as a continent in 2017.

All we know of Aotearoa's underwater continent, Zealandia

A new review summarises the geological history of the world's youngest continent, Te Riu-a-Māui/Zealandia, which Aotearoa shares with New Caledonia. Zealandia began 'unzipping' from the Gondwana supercontinent about 80 million years ago and completely separated from Australia's continent 55 million years ago. Zealandia is largely underwater, so it's partly thanks to the combination of onshore geological studies with new offshore research that we…