page 6 knowledge.qxd (Page 1)
06
German meteorologist Alfred Wegener began working on a theory of continental drift, noticing that the different large landmasses of the Earth almost fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. From 1912, he publicly advocated the existence of “continental drift”.
KNOWLEDGEPEDIA Photo: Getty Images
Scientists — who set sail on July 27 this year — are on a mission to unlock the secrets of the ‘lost continent’ of Zealandia and investigate the huge underwater landmass east of Australia. Here’s a look into the very origin of continent formation, naming and the recent eighth continent that can possbily change the map of the world and play a crucial role in understanding climate change
THE RIFT, DRIFT, & THE BIG FIND How did Zealandia form?
T
he underwater section of Zealandia is believed to have detached from the continent of Australia and sank 60 to 85 million years ago. In places off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland, the two continents are only 15 miles apart. Its crust is relatively thin and ranges in thickness from six to 24 miles.
IN FEBRUARY, scientists announced that there is an eighth continent submerged beneath the ocean — Zealandia. In a paper published by the Geological Society of America, scientists called the area “Earth’s hidden continent” and suggested that identifying it will help us better represent our planet.
The goals of the expedition According to a summary of the expedition’s goals, rocks from the Tasman Sea will be “analysed for their sediment composition, microfossil components, mineral and water chemistry, and physical properties”. The scientists will also examine ocean and climate patterns to try and understand the relationship between climate change and tectonic shifts.
Sept
In 1995, American geophysicist Bruce Luyendyk gave the name Zealandia to this south-west Pacific continent for the first time.
3
The GSA report says that Zealandia is around five million sq km in size. That would be about the same size as the Indian subcontinent.
4
New Zealand’s North and South Islands, and New Caledonia are parts of Zealandia. These are the few bits of the landmasses that remain out of water.
5
It encircles New Zealand, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, the Lord Howe Island group, and also the Elizabeth and Middleton reefs.
Zealandia meets all the criteria to be qualified as a continent: it is elevated above the surrounding area, has distinctive geology, well-defined area, crust thicker than the usual ocean floor, etc.
7
It is believed Zealandia sank between 60 and 85 million years ago, after it broke away from Gondwana, the landmass that Australia was once a part of.
8
Geologists have been pitching for Zealandia to be recognised as an independent continent for over 20 years now. If approved, it will become the world's eighth and smallest continent.
30 scientists from the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) are setting out from Australia aboard a large ship to drill into the seafloor to try and understand the history and structure of Zealandia.
TIME PERIOD of initial expedition
The team of international scientists will drill about 1,000 to Aim: 2,600 feet into the seafloor at To examine six sites in the Tasman Sea to collect tectonic plate shifts that sediment samples — containing fossil evioccurred 50 million years dence — deposited over millions of years.
ago, when Australia and New Zealand stopped spreading On what basis are continents constituted and what qualiapart and began to fies Zealandia to be a continent? 1) elevation, 2) crustal struccompress. ture, 3) geology and 4) total area and structure limits. The recent reve-
lation of the eight continent that the area in question constitutes a continent has to do with number four on this list. Source: Agencies
FORMATION OF CONTINENTS
Scientists believe that about 250 million years ago, a supercontinent (made up of all continents) known as Pangea existed. This was during the time of dinosaurs. The word Pangea came from an ancient Greek word meaning “all lands”.
By the time Pangea finished forming in the Triassic period, life flourished in the oceans and spread from water to the land. The first dinosaurs evolved during the Triassic period.
Geologists call the process of breaking up rifting. The rifting happens when two tectonic plates move apart on a divergent plate boundary. That’s how scientists speak. Here is how it works.
The Earth’s crust is not a single piece but is broken into several pieces called plates. These plates float like giant rafts Pangea was created when all continents we know smashed together like a giant car wreck. This crashing was not a gentle process. The Appalachian mountains in North America and the Ural Mountains of Europe and Asia are the results of some of these collisions. on a sea of melted rock called the mantle. At some places, the plates crash into each other and one plate is shoved under the other and starts to
ANTARCTICA comes from the Greek word “antarktike”, which literally means “opposite to the north”. The continent is, of course, home to the southernmost point on Earth. John George Bartholomew, a Scottish cartographer, is believed to be the
6
What is happening on the expedition?
to
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
So what really led to the name Africa? There are many theories. After the Romans defeated Carthage (which is in modern-day Tunisia in North Africa) in the third Punic War, they called the new province “Africa”. The popular theory is that it was named for a native tribe – the Afri,
1
New Zealand geologist Nick Mortimer, along with other scientists, published a paper in the Geological Society of America’s Journal, calling Zealandia “distinct enough to constitute a separate continent”.
Sediments from Zealandia, a submerged landmass to the east of Australia, are to be examined by scientists in an effort to better understand climate and earth movement patterns during the Eocene period some 53 million years ago – conditions that proved impossible to accurately explain using climate models.
27 26
AFRICA:
All About Zealandia
2
The purpose
July
CONTINENTS THEIR NAMING
ASIA is first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BCE) in reference to Anatolia or to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. It originally was just a name for the east bank of the Aegean Sea, an area known to the Hittites as Assuwa. Romans referred to two
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
EUROPE was possibly named after Europa, one of Zeus’ lovers in Greek mythology. Legend has it that he abducted her after taking on the form of a white bull and took her to Crete. It is difficult to determine the etymology of the name, but one theory is that it comes
AMERICA: The Americas (North and South) were named after Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was a navigator that travelled to “the new world” in 1499 and 1502. In 1507, a German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, chose to make a new map that included the new world. He was
with “Africa” then being the feminine form of “Africus”, literally meaning “land of the Afri”. Another theory is that it comes from the Phoenician word “afar” meaning “dust”. Put together with the Latin suffix -ica, it denotes “land”, the name could mean “a land of dust”.
first person to use “Antartica” to refer to the continent. However, the name was used for a different place by the French before this. In the 1500s, they held a colony in Brazil below the equator, which they named France Antartique. provinces when talking about Asia: Asia Minor and Asia Major. A common theory is that the Greek name ultimately derived from the Phoenician word asu, which means “east”, and the Akkadian word asu that means “to go out, to rise”. Asia would then mean “the land of the sunrise”.
from the Akkadian word erebu which means “to go down or set” or the Phoenician ereb meaning “evening, west”. Alternatively, Eurpoa may have derived from the Greek “eurys”, meaning “wide”, and “ops”, meaning “face”, so “wide face”.
aware of Vespucci's writings and ignorant of Columbus' expeditions. As such, they decided to name the new land after Vespucci. When the large new map, approximately 8 ft by 4 ft, was unveiled by Waldseemüller, it had the large title “AMERICA” across what is now present-day Brazil.
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
AUSTRALIA: Terra Australis Incognita means “the unknown land in the south” in Latin. The rumours of the continent's existence dates back to Ancient Roman times. Of course, the Romans did not have the maritime technology to reach Australia, neither
melt. This is called a convergent boundary. In other places, the plates are forced apart when melted rock flows up from the mantle and cools forming new crust. This is called a divergent boundary. Pangea was shaped like a giant letter C. It sprawled across the equator and extended from the North Pole to the South Pole. If you lived at the time of Pangea, you could walk from North Pole to South Pole without getting your feet wet! As the continents move apart, water from the ocean flows in to fill up the space. The process happens slowly as the tectonic plates move from
did they have any real evidence that it existed. However, when the Europeans discovered the continent, “Terra Australis” stayed. The continent was referred to the shortened "Australia" by a number of early explorers, but it was Matthew Flinders who pushed for its use from 1804.
0 to 100 mm (0 to 3.9 inches) per year.
The rifting of Pangea started with North America and Africa. In fact, rifting continued on the east side of Africa near the Red Sea in an area called Great Rift Valley. North America and Africa tried to split apart along what we now call the Mississippi River Valley. When North America finally rifted away from Africa, it formed the beginning of what is now the Atlantic Ocean.
At the same time, rifts were forming between Africa, Antarctica and Australia, forming the start of the Indian Ocean. These rifts would continue to grow through the Cretaceous (dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous) time period. This was when North America and Europe rifted apart.
German meteorologist Alfred Wegener began working on a theory of continental drift, noticing that the different large landmasses of the Earth almost fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. From 1912, he publicly advocated the existence of “continental drift”.
KNOWLEDGEPEDIA Photo: Getty Images
Scientists — who set sail on July 27 this year — are on a mission to unlock the secrets of the ‘lost continent’ of Zealandia and investigate the huge underwater landmass east of Australia. Here’s a look into the very origin of continent formation, naming and the recent eighth continent that can possbily change the map of the world and play a crucial role in understanding climate change
THE RIFT, DRIFT, & THE BIG FIND How did Zealandia form?
T
he underwater section of Zealandia is believed to have detached from the continent of Australia and sank 60 to 85 million years ago. In places off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland, the two continents are only 15 miles apart. Its crust is relatively thin and ranges in thickness from six to 24 miles.
IN FEBRUARY, scientists announced that there is an eighth continent submerged beneath the ocean — Zealandia. In a paper published by the Geological Society of America, scientists called the area “Earth’s hidden continent” and suggested that identifying it will help us better represent our planet.
The goals of the expedition According to a summary of the expedition’s goals, rocks from the Tasman Sea will be “analysed for their sediment composition, microfossil components, mineral and water chemistry, and physical properties”. The scientists will also examine ocean and climate patterns to try and understand the relationship between climate change and tectonic shifts.
Sept
In 1995, American geophysicist Bruce Luyendyk gave the name Zealandia to this south-west Pacific continent for the first time.
3
The GSA report says that Zealandia is around five million sq km in size. That would be about the same size as the Indian subcontinent.
4
New Zealand’s North and South Islands, and New Caledonia are parts of Zealandia. These are the few bits of the landmasses that remain out of water.
5
It encircles New Zealand, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, the Lord Howe Island group, and also the Elizabeth and Middleton reefs.
Zealandia meets all the criteria to be qualified as a continent: it is elevated above the surrounding area, has distinctive geology, well-defined area, crust thicker than the usual ocean floor, etc.
7
It is believed Zealandia sank between 60 and 85 million years ago, after it broke away from Gondwana, the landmass that Australia was once a part of.
8
Geologists have been pitching for Zealandia to be recognised as an independent continent for over 20 years now. If approved, it will become the world's eighth and smallest continent.
30 scientists from the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) are setting out from Australia aboard a large ship to drill into the seafloor to try and understand the history and structure of Zealandia.
TIME PERIOD of initial expedition
The team of international scientists will drill about 1,000 to Aim: 2,600 feet into the seafloor at To examine six sites in the Tasman Sea to collect tectonic plate shifts that sediment samples — containing fossil evioccurred 50 million years dence — deposited over millions of years.
ago, when Australia and New Zealand stopped spreading On what basis are continents constituted and what qualiapart and began to fies Zealandia to be a continent? 1) elevation, 2) crustal struccompress. ture, 3) geology and 4) total area and structure limits. The recent reve-
lation of the eight continent that the area in question constitutes a continent has to do with number four on this list. Source: Agencies
FORMATION OF CONTINENTS
Scientists believe that about 250 million years ago, a supercontinent (made up of all continents) known as Pangea existed. This was during the time of dinosaurs. The word Pangea came from an ancient Greek word meaning “all lands”.
By the time Pangea finished forming in the Triassic period, life flourished in the oceans and spread from water to the land. The first dinosaurs evolved during the Triassic period.
Geologists call the process of breaking up rifting. The rifting happens when two tectonic plates move apart on a divergent plate boundary. That’s how scientists speak. Here is how it works.
The Earth’s crust is not a single piece but is broken into several pieces called plates. These plates float like giant rafts Pangea was created when all continents we know smashed together like a giant car wreck. This crashing was not a gentle process. The Appalachian mountains in North America and the Ural Mountains of Europe and Asia are the results of some of these collisions. on a sea of melted rock called the mantle. At some places, the plates crash into each other and one plate is shoved under the other and starts to
ANTARCTICA comes from the Greek word “antarktike”, which literally means “opposite to the north”. The continent is, of course, home to the southernmost point on Earth. John George Bartholomew, a Scottish cartographer, is believed to be the
6
What is happening on the expedition?
to
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
So what really led to the name Africa? There are many theories. After the Romans defeated Carthage (which is in modern-day Tunisia in North Africa) in the third Punic War, they called the new province “Africa”. The popular theory is that it was named for a native tribe – the Afri,
1
New Zealand geologist Nick Mortimer, along with other scientists, published a paper in the Geological Society of America’s Journal, calling Zealandia “distinct enough to constitute a separate continent”.
Sediments from Zealandia, a submerged landmass to the east of Australia, are to be examined by scientists in an effort to better understand climate and earth movement patterns during the Eocene period some 53 million years ago – conditions that proved impossible to accurately explain using climate models.
27 26
AFRICA:
All About Zealandia
2
The purpose
July
CONTINENTS THEIR NAMING
ASIA is first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BCE) in reference to Anatolia or to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt. It originally was just a name for the east bank of the Aegean Sea, an area known to the Hittites as Assuwa. Romans referred to two
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
EUROPE was possibly named after Europa, one of Zeus’ lovers in Greek mythology. Legend has it that he abducted her after taking on the form of a white bull and took her to Crete. It is difficult to determine the etymology of the name, but one theory is that it comes
AMERICA: The Americas (North and South) were named after Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was a navigator that travelled to “the new world” in 1499 and 1502. In 1507, a German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, chose to make a new map that included the new world. He was
with “Africa” then being the feminine form of “Africus”, literally meaning “land of the Afri”. Another theory is that it comes from the Phoenician word “afar” meaning “dust”. Put together with the Latin suffix -ica, it denotes “land”, the name could mean “a land of dust”.
first person to use “Antartica” to refer to the continent. However, the name was used for a different place by the French before this. In the 1500s, they held a colony in Brazil below the equator, which they named France Antartique. provinces when talking about Asia: Asia Minor and Asia Major. A common theory is that the Greek name ultimately derived from the Phoenician word asu, which means “east”, and the Akkadian word asu that means “to go out, to rise”. Asia would then mean “the land of the sunrise”.
from the Akkadian word erebu which means “to go down or set” or the Phoenician ereb meaning “evening, west”. Alternatively, Eurpoa may have derived from the Greek “eurys”, meaning “wide”, and “ops”, meaning “face”, so “wide face”.
aware of Vespucci's writings and ignorant of Columbus' expeditions. As such, they decided to name the new land after Vespucci. When the large new map, approximately 8 ft by 4 ft, was unveiled by Waldseemüller, it had the large title “AMERICA” across what is now present-day Brazil.
Photo: GETTY IMAGES
AUSTRALIA: Terra Australis Incognita means “the unknown land in the south” in Latin. The rumours of the continent's existence dates back to Ancient Roman times. Of course, the Romans did not have the maritime technology to reach Australia, neither
melt. This is called a convergent boundary. In other places, the plates are forced apart when melted rock flows up from the mantle and cools forming new crust. This is called a divergent boundary. Pangea was shaped like a giant letter C. It sprawled across the equator and extended from the North Pole to the South Pole. If you lived at the time of Pangea, you could walk from North Pole to South Pole without getting your feet wet! As the continents move apart, water from the ocean flows in to fill up the space. The process happens slowly as the tectonic plates move from
did they have any real evidence that it existed. However, when the Europeans discovered the continent, “Terra Australis” stayed. The continent was referred to the shortened "Australia" by a number of early explorers, but it was Matthew Flinders who pushed for its use from 1804.
0 to 100 mm (0 to 3.9 inches) per year.
The rifting of Pangea started with North America and Africa. In fact, rifting continued on the east side of Africa near the Red Sea in an area called Great Rift Valley. North America and Africa tried to split apart along what we now call the Mississippi River Valley. When North America finally rifted away from Africa, it formed the beginning of what is now the Atlantic Ocean.
At the same time, rifts were forming between Africa, Antarctica and Australia, forming the start of the Indian Ocean. These rifts would continue to grow through the Cretaceous (dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous) time period. This was when North America and Europe rifted apart.
