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New Zealand May Be the Tip of a Submerged Continent (theoutline.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report on The Outline: A group of geologists believe it is time to name a new continent. A paper published in the March/April edition of GSA Today, the journal for the Geological Society of America, lays out the case for Zealandia as the seventh and youngest geological continent. In the past, New Zealand was thought to be part of a collection of "islands, fragments, and slices," the authors wrote, but it's now understood to be part of a solid landmass. New Zealand is essentially the highest mountains of a 1.9 million square mile landmass that is 94 percent underwater, according to the paper. The authors believe it is both large and isolated enough to qualify as a continent. They note that it is elevated relative to the oceanic crust, as befits a continent, and its distinctiveness and thickness are also on par with continents one through six. What does it matter if Zealandia is officially a continent? Reclassifying the area would encourage geologists to include it in studies of comparative continental rifting and continent-ocean boundaries.
It just occurred to me how appropriate New Zealand's name might be in this context: it's a New Sea-Land.
In Google Earth you could always easily see a shallow landmass around New Zealand, so what's new here?
... the tip of something submerged?
New Zealand we love you. You don't have to be like Australia. We are worried about you. Just be yourself. You don't have to be a continent.
1. Africa, 2. Europe, 3. Asia, 4. North America, 5. South America, 6. Antarctica, and 7. Australia. Please tell me this is an intelligence test....
A Continent is a landmass, not a slightly shallower section of ocean.
There is no clear, universally agreed definition of what a continent is. Australia was an island not long ago - and Europe is a different continent from Asia, which is absurd, in terms of geography. And there is an argument in favour of calling New Zealand a continent: it is part of a piece of continental crust, which sits on its own, tectonic plate. I would say it is as good a definition as any. Whichever way we look at it, it is hard to argue that there are more than 6 continents, unless we count New Zealand.
Extradite Kim Dot Com, and it will re-emerge.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Yay, my own continent at last! Take that Australia now we have one too!
That's OK as far as it goes but there is already a word that fits but that wasn't used: subcontinent
The NZ plaque is also smaller than the Indian subcontinental plaque making it clear that "Newzealandia is a continent" is either journalistic inflation or Kiwi puffery.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
Just like planets, species etc. It comes from a desire to categorize things even though on occasions things cannot be categorized or the criteria for doing it doesn't work.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
Same as if you go to the grocery shop and buy "1 kg" (vulgar language) of potatoes, when what you're buying is "1 kp" of potatoes.
That is incorrect. You are buying 1kg (mass, amount of substance) of potatoes, not 1kp (amount of force exerted by Earth's gravity on 1kg of substance). The balance in the grocery shop might use measurement of 1kp force to verify that you are taking 1kg of potatoes, but that is the end of 1kp use. You leave the shop with 1kg of potatoes.
Can you repeat this in the vulgar/common language of the English speakers? I don't understand what you're saying here. What in the hell is 1 kp of potatoes? And why do you get to declare physical geology the arbiter of continents, not geology as a whole? And why is Eurafrasia necessarily a "Wrong Definition"?
This is not like how we differentiate between arms and legs. This is more like how we decide between saying you have five fingers on a hand of which one is a thumb, vs. saying you have four fingers and one thumb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven regions are commonly regarded as continents.
There is no clear, universally agreed definition of what a continent is.
There is only one solution: we need an international committee to define what a continent is, and then decide that NZ is a dwarf continent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uBcq1x7P34
Sine when was Australia only an Island? It was called a continent in the 18th century once it was clear it was a large single land mass, with some calling it the largest island as well. By the late 18th century it was defined as a continent once a complete circumnaviation was done that proved exactly what the single land mass was. So basically for the entire length of white settlement, it has been a continent.
Up until the early 18th century due to the boundaries being unclear, it was thought to be part of Asia, so again, thought to be at least part of a larger continent.
There basically has been no point in it's known European history since 1606 that it has been only an island.
A Continent is a landmass, not a slightly shallower section of ocean.
Except that we've redefined the term "continent" many times already. In common parlance, "continent" in French means mainland, and in the UK, that definition survives in the tendency to refer to "mainland Europe" as "the continent". The original Latin root means continuing/continuous, and as there is no surface discontinuity between Europe, Asia and Africa, the notion of "continent" as we understand it was completely arbitrary, right up until the discovery of plate tectonics. Even then, people have been reluctant to follow plate tectonics to its logical conclusion -- note how the Indian plate is referred to as a "subcontinent" even though it's a distinct plate from Asia. It's also worth noting that various languages have different numbers of continents, each making the distinction on different geographical, geological, ethnic or political bases.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
What does it matter if Zealandia is officially a continent?
New Zealand now gets to claim a large amount of mineral and sea resources from the continental shelf and around it.
At least we can all agree on how it is part of an enormous land mass called Earth.
Please direct all bug reports to
Looks like Mother Earth has a better batting average than New Zealand.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Do not confuse Zealandia with Zoolandia... ancestral home of Derek Zoolander.
There is no clear, universally agreed definition of what a continent is.
I go with the technical definition: big ass island
We'll make great pets
There is only one solution: we need an international committee to define what a continent is, and then decide that NZ is a dwarf continent.
If you figure that out could you get one for international labor standards too? That one's slightly more important...
We'll make great pets
> as there is no surface discontinuity between Europe, Asia and Africa, the notion of "continent" as we understand it was completely arbitrary
There's a rather large surface discontinuity between Africa and Eurasia, comprised of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Prior to 1869, these two separate landmasses used to touch, but just because I touch you with my finger doesn't make us one body.
They didn't mean the ocean, they meant the landmass below the water.
I guess every area under water might then classify as a 'continent'?
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
I learned in school, 40 years ago, a continent is a big plate floating on the earth magma. That is actually a pretty strict definition. Plates are called "continental shelf", mere islands like Hawaii or Japan are not on a continental shelf.
No idea why the english/american wikipedia article disagrees, I guess because it is written by hobbyists?
Now it seems some scientists argue that NZ has its own shelf ... if that it is the case: it is a continent.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
1. Europe. 2. Asia. 3 Africa. 4 Australia. 5 North America 6. South America 7 Antarctica.
8 New Zealand?
I count 8 not 7 and certainly not 6.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
The other half should be more of a concern.
New Zealand has long been using this submerged landmass to conceal an impressive stockpile of 20 megaton nuclear missiles.
At this point, experienced journalists should ask:
a. Where are those missiles aimed?
b. Who has access to the button that launches these missiles?
c. How many warheads are in that stockpile?
d. How big is this submerged landmass? (How long have you known, etc)
At that point, I guess none of this stuff matters. But fault all the Slashdot eds till the cows come home, but when it comes to stuff thast matters they absolutely nailed this one.
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1,000 Amys is 1 kilopond
Yabbut climate change is going to put it even further underwater, so what's the point?
I learned in school, 40 years ago, a continent is a big plate floating on the earth magma. That is actually a pretty strict definition. Plates are called "continental shelf", mere islands like Hawaii or Japan are not on a continental shelf.
No idea why the english/american wikipedia article disagrees, I guess because it is written by hobbyists?
The problem with this definition is that California would be on a different continent than the rest of the continental USA.
(The San Andreas fault separates the north american plate from the pacific plate)
So I suppose that's why everyday american-english wants to use different continent classifications than official scientific ?
And similarily. India is its own separate plate from the rest of eurasia. Also, traditionally europe and asia have been considered different continents, although they are on the same eurasian plate.
All in all, people have get used to some world view (list of continent), and it's hard to ask them to change as more details emerge and the scientific view shifts a bit.
(see: reptile and birds and mammals
in the common use : turtles and lizards are reptiles, the rest are not.
from an evolutionnary and classification point of view: if you include both turtles and lizards the thing you call "reptile" is such a big chunk of the tree, that birds and mammals appear actually inside of it as sub-branches)
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1. Europe. 2. Asia. 3 Africa. 4 Australia. 5 North America 6. South America 7 Antarctica.
8 New Zealand?
In the common every day usage, yes. (Although most people skip Antartica).
The thing is, when you look into details and apply scientific definition (plate tectonics), lots of things shift aroudn :
Europe and asia are part of the same eurasia plate.
India is its own separate plate (and himalaya is the bump caused by both plates colliding)
California is actually on the same pacific plate as hawaii, not on the nothern american plate as the rest of the continental USA (hance the san andreas fault)
etc.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Hum Hum Hum Hum Hum Hum Yes yes, New Zealand is a continent Zealandia, yes. Hum Hum Hum Hum Hum Hum
It all starts at 0
Categorization is always to some extent artificial. Are viruses alive? What constitutes a planet? What is a species? All you can do in some cases is accept that there is an inevitable fuzziness, and that a concept can at best explain the majority of cases with the outliers either being categorized in or out of the set depending upon how many attributes are shared.
The definition of a continent has become considerably more complex as we learn more about how the geology of Earth works, and so far as I understand it these days a continent is usually defined as a contiguous section of crust, made up of multiple plates, but that has fairly deep roots into the mantle. The oceans themselves play a somewhat muddier role in all of this, but in general continents are not defined anymore by how much of their surface sits above sea level. Considering that sea level fluctuates a great deal in geological time, you can have situations like the Bering land bridge where two separate continents are in fact joined by a land mass. Similar features can be found with the Ismuths of Panama and Suez. Another good example of a continent that is defined largely by crust and sub-crustal features is Antarctica, which would actually be more of an archipelago if the ice cap were to melt.
The problem here is force fitting a rather 19th century *geography* definition of continent with a modern 21st century *geology* definition of continent.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Ocean Floor.
Nope. Different composition entirely. Continental plates ate lighter and 'float' on top of the mantle (exact details will better be explained by a real geologist). But the composition of continents and ocean floor is different.
There are bits of ocean floor that just happen to be above sea level and are dry land. Zeelandia, on the other hand, is a continental plate that is largely submerged.
Have gnu, will travel.
Just like planets, species etc.
Ceres and Pluto suggested we call it a dwarf continent.
More importantly, Zelandia crust is separated from Australian crust by a (small amount of) oceanic crust. This is different from volcanic island arcs accumulated on the west coast of California or India/Asia.
We saw Mordor sinking at the end of "Return of the King", so that must be the rest of the missing NZ continent.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
A group of geologists believe it is time to name a new continent.
And seek funds to study it. It's not like they wouldn't look at it had in only been some interesting structures on the ocean floor. But now they can request a separate package of funding under it's own name.
Have gnu, will travel.
They were warned, the ancient people of Zealand, but did they listen, no ! They chose "clean coal", they drilled baby, they modded their cars with coal kits...
Nullius in verba
Because the ocean floor is not floating on top of the mantle? Complete nonsense.
Um... what did I just read?
The six-continent combined-Eurasia model is mostly used in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Japan.
(joke) Obviously this is Russian propaganda (/joke)
By the way, there are five senses:
1) Sight 2) Hearing 3) Smell 4) Taste 5) Touch 6) Balance 7) Proprioception .... and so on.
Someone had to do it.
What are you going on about? Some snark just so you can toss "merkin" in? Oh, we're so insulted, how can we take the shame?
Your primary statement of fact was unnecessary. No-one was making any argument against it. Re-stating it did not provide more context.
The GP was an amusing post, and, frankly, the first joke that came to my mind.
Why *your* butthurt? Dwarf mind?
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
The statement was "there is no surface discontinuity". There is in fact a major shipping route separating Africa from Eurasia at Suez. Yeah at Suez the water isn't very deep, so it's handy that the claim was "SURFACE discontinuity".
More importantly, if we touch our fingertips together, that doesn't make us one person. That makes us two different people touching at one small spot. Prior the mid-1800s, Africa and Eurasia were two continents touching at one small spot. Now they are 100% separated by water.
This answer goes for you and for those you downvoted my previous message.
Can you repeat this in the vulgar/common language of the English speakers?
Vulgar/common language is the language people speaks freely in the streets and might not be proper or exact in its meaning.
So, stop thinking everyone wants to insult/attack you ('cause most people doesn't care to do so).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
There, you can read: "It is the smallest of the seven traditional continents in the English conception." Meaning, only you, English speakers, have an "Australian Continent", not the Science Community.
If you don't know the basics of science, then, I don't see why you irritates from what I've written.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
First, my bad, I meant "phisical geography" (not geology).
Second, I didn't wrote Eurafrasia (that's your making), I wrote Europe-Asia-Africa, which is different. I lacked here more explaining. Continent division, nowadays, have almost nothing to do with continental plaques.
A Continent is a landmass, not a slightly shallower section of ocean.
There is no clear, universally agreed definition of what a continent is. Australia was an island not long ago - and Europe is a different continent from Asia, which is absurd, in terms of geography.
And where is the line Europe/Asia? Most maps include all of Russia as part of Asia. Some maps draw a line through Russia. My kids even have a geography book that shows Russia as being wholly in Europe.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
Unless my grade school teacher was wrong, we already have seven continents 1) North America 2) South America 3) Europe 4) Africa 5)Asia 6) Australia 7) Antarctica So, Zealandia would be the 8th if so determined to be a continent, right????
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Another thing is that, "in the vulgar/common language of English speakers", you call it "Australian Continent", which is WRONG (main island is in one continental platform and some of its islands are in others).
Australia is both a continent and a country, and each of those contexts refers to slightly different sets of land-masses. A country can be spread out over multiple continents, like Denmark (+Greenland) and the U.K. (Great Britiain + various territories such as the B.V.I.), and a continent can be spread over multiple tectonic plates.
I think they prefer to be called Hobbits. Hobbit Continent.
Q:I was listening to a CD in Grip and it sounded horrible! What's up? A:Perhaps you are listening to country music
I learned in school, 40 years ago, a continent is a big plate floating on the earth magma.
What's funny about this is that just a decade earlier, when I was in school, continental drift was still a crazy crackpot theory.
This is actually Atlantis, it has been hiding under the Pacific all these millennia!
Continents, races, oceans, senses; all 19th century, easy-to-memorize lists for primary schoolchildren but completely unscientific.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
You're lucky. They revoked phlogiston theory two weeks before my chemistry finals.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
If you are claiming that it isn't coastlines and land areas which make continents, but rather regions of continental rock (whether above sea level or not). If this is so, you can no longer justify counting Africa as separate from Eurasia, or North and South America being separate from each other. So you can pick between the traditional 6 continents by land area, or four or five by crustal rock (Eurasia+Africa, Americas, Antarctica, Australia, and Zealandia if you think it is big enough.)
Incidentally, New Zealand may have been almost entirely submerged 24 to 21 million years ago. http://www.lincolnecology.org....
I don't know if there were any other major Zealandia land masses at the time.
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
One of my favorite was from a book in '05 that pinned it pretty definitively in Indonesia. Although the author passed away soon after, fans of his (and some relatives) have been commenting upon some of the research at atlan.org, which was the first thing I thought of when news of this broke.
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
Not joking: My father was in high school in the 1940s - NYC Bronx High School of Science. One year he came back after summer break, and the chemistry teacher had everyone open the textbook to the page saying the atom was indestructible, and rip it out. The counter-example had blown up Hiroshima a month earlier.
My arse it does.
OK, so why do people in Corsica always talk about going to "le continent" and people visiting Corsica always talk about being from "le continent"? "My arse it does." contains no information to refute my claims.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
That didn't take long, a butthurt dweeb down-modded this already. Sorry cupcake, US citizens have been referred to as "Americans" by the rest of the civilized world for well over a century. "America" is not scientifically recognized as a single continent.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
A Continent is a landmass, not a slightly shallower section of ocean.
There is no clear, universally agreed definition of what a continent is. Australia was an island not long ago - and Europe is a different continent from Asia, which is absurd, in terms of geography. And there is an argument in favour of calling New Zealand a continent: it is part of a piece of continental crust, which sits on its own, tectonic plate. I would say it is as good a definition as any. Whichever way we look at it, it is hard to argue that there are more than 6 continents, unless we count New Zealand.
Is there some off-shore mineral mining going on?
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
It affects. We should be looking for the Cradle of Man elsewhere, not in Africa. It does look like a first, useful step. And it may feed all Mu continent proposes also. So suddenly it is not a matter of exploring yet another Sea Bottom, but the underwater surface of a new Continent. It sounds interesting.
So... Does this mean that we can make Pluto a planet again? I'm pretty sure that if you asked the majority of the public, their world view would be that it is.
And, right the next day after your comment, comes this /. story about making pluto a planet again.
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