A new map of Zealandia is revealing how it formed – and why it sank.
– largely because it’s almost entirely submerged under 1-2 km of water. Now they are beginning to unravel its secrets.of Zealandia to date – incorporating all five million square kilometres 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..
. The ocean above what we now call Zealandia is considerably shallower than that surrounding it, suggesting that the area was not underlain by an oceanic tectonic plate – like most of the world's oceans – but a continental one., when scientists put several lines of evidence together, including data about the kinds of rocks it contains and its relative thickness – oceanic plates tend to be thinner – to propose that this is indeed a new continent.
The researchers' analysis of rocks from the lost continent revealed that the stretching happened in two stages. The first began around 89-101 million years ago, and led to a rip which became the Tasman Sea inbetween Australia and New Zealand. The second phase started 80-90 million years ago and led to Zealandia splitting off from West Antarctica and creating the Pacific Ocean.
By analysing their chemistry and the radioactive isotopes deep within, the scientists estimated their age and origins. The oldest were pebbles dating to the Early Cretaceous , followed by sandstone from the Late Cretaceous and relatively young basalts from the Eocene .
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