By the way, it is said that you will know that there are seven continents in the world, Africa, Asia, Antarctica, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
But in February 2017, scientists discovered that in fact another continent of the Earth was hidden from our view and was named Zelandia.
The continent is connected to New Zealand and New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean, most of it is underwater and only 6% is above sea level and most of it is New Zealand.
Complete maps of the continent, hidden at a depth of 3,500 feet in the South Pacific, have been released after three years.
New Zealand’s GNS science scientists announced this week that they have mapped the structure and volume of the missing continent in full detail.
These maps have been loaded on an interactive website so that users can explore the continent from anywhere.
“Through these maps, we are providing an authentic, complete and up-to-date geographical picture of New Zealand and the Southwest Pacific, which is better than ever,” the scientists said in a statement.
Scientists have mapped the depths around Zelandia, its structure and the depth of the ocean floor, as well as the boundaries of the continental plates.
These maps reveal how the continent came into being and sank in the ocean millions of years ago.
Zealand covers an area of 2 million square miles, or about half the area of Australia.
About 6% of the land area consists of the northern and southern islands of New Zealand and the Island of New Caledonia, while the rest is underwater.
To understand the underwater continent, scientists drew maps of Zelandia and the ocean floor, showing how high the mountains on the continent are and how high they rise.
Its coastline, region boundaries and other prominent geographical features are also shown.
Another map reveals the type of diameter of the underwater continent and other details.
In 2017, scientists reported that Zelandia’s underwater parts also existed on Earth’s surface millions, millions of years ago, and that sea temperatures were very high at that time.
They estimate that the continent was completely submerged 80 million years ago after being separated from Australia and Antarctica.
About thirty to forty million years ago, the Pacific Ring of Fire was formed and the seabed of the Underlandia emerged.
Scientists are still trying to unravel the other mysteries of the continent and it will take a long time to fully discover it.