Long-Lost Continent Found Under the Indian Ocean

ananyo writes "The drowned remnants of an ancient micro-continent may lie scattered beneath the waters between Madagascar and India, a new study suggests. Evidence for the long-lost land comes from Mauritius, a volcanic island about 900 kilometers east of Madagascar (abstract) The oldest volcanic rocks on the island date to about 8.9 million years ago. Yet grain-by-grain analyses of beach sand collected at two sites on the Mauritian coast revealed around 20 zircons — tiny crystals of zirconium silicate that are exceedingly resistant to erosion or chemical change — that were far older. One of these zircons was at least 1.97 billion years old. The researchers that made the discovery think that geologically recent volcanic eruptions brought shards of the buried continent to the Earth's surface, where the zircons eroded from their parent rocks to pepper the island's sands. Analyses of Earth's gravitational field reveal several broad areas where sea-floor crust at the bottom of the Indian ocean is much thicker than normal — at least 25 to 30 kilometers thick, rather than the normal 5 to 10 kilometers. Those crustal anomalies may be the remains of a landmass that researchers have now dubbed Mauritia, which they suggest split from Madagascar when tectonic rifting and sea-floor spreading sent the Indian subcontinent surging northeast millions of years ago."

Comments

Everyone was thinking it, I Just said it.

[DeTech]

Atlantis?

Re:Everyone was thinking it, I Just said it.

[Ol Biscuitbarrel]

Of course it's not Atlantis. Everyone knows that the continent of Atlantis was an island which lay before the great flood in the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean.

Re:Everyone was thinking it, I Just said it.

[cout]

No, Atlantis is in another galaxy and we need a Zed Point Module to get there.

Re:Everyone was thinking it, I Just said it.

[dywolf]

It's Zero you twit. You're nerd credentials are hereby revoked.

Interesting fact

[slashmydots]

According to the article, they entire civilization was using Windows 8 right before it sunk. Their continental IT department tried to roll out touchscreens and then the whole place sank into the sea. Strange, but not unexpected.

Re:Interesting fact

[RivenAleem]

Sounds like a Surface problem.

Re:Interesting fact

[Grayhand]

According to the article, they entire civilization was using Windows 8 right before it sunk. Their continental IT department tried to roll out touchscreens and then the whole place sank into the sea. Strange, but not unexpected.

Microsoft's blue screen of death was meant to honor all those that sank into the blue sea with no hope of survival.

Re:Found = Not yet found?

[gandhi_2]

If you ever drop your continent into a river of molten lava, let it go, because, man, it's gone.

old news

[nimbius]

Made my way to Mauritius last weekend while trying to get to the airport Marriott with Apple Maps.

Re:Mauritia?

[slashmydots]

Nope, it's the long lost city of Atlanta; home of the coca cola bottling plant and other things than the gigantic airport hub.

Re:Plate tectonics

[Jeng]

Yes, that is an unfortunate effect of dealing with stupid people all day, you end up feeling really smart when you are really just a step above those you help.