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.

[muntis]

Actually it's more likely to be Lemuria not 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.

Found = Not yet found?

[CyberBill]

Not really found. This is like trying to find a lost child, and your search dog picks up a scent, or you find a child size shoe.

Still lost. Not found.

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.

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.

Plate tectonics

[Jafafa Hots]

Remnants of MANY lost continents lay under the ocean floor.
And at the top of mountains too.
And those lost continents were made from remnants of previous lost continents.

Someone just discovered geology. Amazing.

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.

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.

Very confusing

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

The last pangea was about 300 million years ago. Indian subcontinent dashed across the Indian ocean and rammed into the underbelly of Asia just 70 million years ago. But these zircon cyrstals are 1900 million years ago. Enough time for one or two pangeas to form and break apart. The data is data, never argue with it. The crust could be 20 km thick where Arabian Sea is today and these crystals could be 1.9 billion years old. But I wish there is a better explanation than this idea of a lost continent.

I am bracing for another assault from the Tamil literature majors. There are references to sea level rise and lost cities (South Madurai) and lost rivers (Pahtruli) and lost temples (near Mamallapuram) and lost harbours (near Poompuhar) and lost grammar books (by Agastiyar ) in Tamil. Best explained by the ending of last ice age some 9000 years ago and the seas coming in a few kilometers and probably flooding a large river delta. But these guys postulate a "lost continent" of Lemuria, exactly in the Arabian Sea./Indian Ocean. Now they are going to come on like a ton of bricks claiming vindication and "proof" that the Tamil language is 1.9 billion years old. Especially since there is a literary reference that translates as, "after the rocks have appeared, but the sand has not yet been formed, [Tamils] were born with swords, the eldest civilization". That would gel with a 1.9 billion year old language.

Microcontinent or a dwarf continent?

[voislav98]

This is why I like geologists, they are logical people. Astronomers never thought to call Pluto a microplanet.