In February 2017 separate studies examining Earth’s geological and geophysical characteristics revealed evidence of ancient sunken continents in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
In the first study, a multinational team made up of South African, German, and Norwegian geologists and geophysicists noticed a large region of gravitational anomalies beneath the Indian Ocean. This difference in gravity suggested the presence of a dense mass of continental crust in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and India. The scientists reported that the gravity data was later combined with data showing the discovery of zircons (a type of silicate mineral of volcanic origin) dated to between 2.5 billion and 3 billion years ago within far younger volcanic rocks on Mauritius (an island that is thought to have formed about 8 million years ago). The age differences between rocks on the island and the zircons within the rocks suggested that the zircons formed on a landmass much older than the present-day island. The scientists hypothesized that volcanism stemming from the tectonic hotspot that grew into Mauritius could have transported zircons from submerged continental crust to the island’s surface. The combination of the gravitational data with that provided by the zircons suggested the presence of a large, arc-shaped, submerged landmass (which the scientists called Mauritia) that extends from Mauritius to India’s southwestern coast.
Similarly, an analysis of gravitational maps of the southern Pacific Ocean near Australia’s eastern coast showed the presence of a large underwater plateau upon which present-day New Caledonia, New Zealand, and other smaller islands sit. Samples taken from the sea floor reveal that the plateau is also made up of continental crust and not the denser oceanic crust common to other underwater features in the ocean. Scientists claimed that this large underwater plateau (which they called Zealandia) was once an emergent continent that was connected to Gondwana (a supercontinent which lasted from perhaps 600 million to 140 million years ago). Zealandia, it seems, slipped beneath the waves sometime after it broke away from Australia about 80 million years ago.
Is Australia an Island?