Zelandia is the eighth miracle continent of the world

New Zealand is also known as New Zealand or Tasmantis; Image Source: Orpiq

Zelandia is the eighth miracle continent of the world

When James Cook orbited the Cape Horn in January 179 and set sail for the Pacific Ocean aboard the HM Burke Endeavor, his main task was to find a way to Venice. But he also had another administrative responsibility: to discover the long-presumed southern continent, Terra Australis incognito. After six months of searching along the coast of New Zealand, he finally sailed west in 180. By then he was convinced that the continent he was looking for was taking its toll.

But he was utterly wrong, as claimed by geologists Nick Mortimer and Hamish Campbell in their book Zealandia: Our Continent Revealed. According to them, this great discoverer failed because Terra Australis incognito was hidden under the structure of his ship, but he did not find it!

Hiding under the ship's structure meant that the continent was actually submerged under water. And many claim Zelandia to be the eighth continent in the world. This mineral-rich New Zealand is also known as the New Zealand Continent or Tasmantis.

The continents of Zealand and Australia were separated from Antarctica 8.5 to 130 million years ago. And 6 to 8.5 million years ago, Zealand was separated from the continent of Australia. Then it gradually began to submerge in water. It is estimated that the entire continent was submerged 23 million years ago.

At present, about 93 to 94 percent of the continent is submerged in the Pacific Ocean. According to geologists, New Zealand is basically a waking part of the continent. Or it can be called the mountaintop of this continent. Other parts of the continent that remain awake include New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, and the Elizabeth and Middleton Atoll.

Image Source: ittefaq.

Geologists have been studying Zelandia for a long time. However, it was revived in 2016, when an article published in the Geological Society of America stated that the area of ​​Zealand was close to five million square kilometers, about two-thirds of neighboring Australia, and almost equal to the Indian subcontinent. Perhaps it was isolated from Gandwana.

Many may think that since the lion's share of Zelandia is submerged, it has no qualms as a continent; Because it is very important to be considered as a continent located above the water. But that is actually a misconception. According to geologists, in order to be recognized as a continent of a large territory, it is necessary to possess four basic qualities:

• Must be higher than other areas in the vicinity;
• Must have some obvious geological features;
• Must have a definite boundary;
• The surface should be thicker than the sea floor.

Geologists have found evidence that all of these qualities exist in Zealand

New Zealand photos taken from space; Image Source: Tim Peake / ESA / NASA

Through their research, Mortimer and Campbell tried to visualize a possible full-fledged image of Zealand, which would have been visible even in front of James Cook if not submerged. According to them, New Zealand is 4,000 kilometers long in length, and 16 times larger in size than today's New Zealand. In addition, many people have identified the map of Zealand as a large Britain.

Interestingly, this tendency to think of Zelandia as an expanded version of Britain is but a very recent phenomenon. In 1856, Charles Hearsthaus, one of New Zealand's first settlers, wrote a book entitled New Zealand or Zealandia, the Britain of the South. As the name implies, he referred to it as Southern Britain.

Hearsthouse was no scientist. Moreover, when he wrote the book, no geographical survey was started. Yet surprisingly he wrote in his book,

"This theory from New Zealand's topography suggests that it is essentially a part of a much larger continent that has long since been submerged."

In other words, the possibility that Zelandia could be a huge submerged continent is not very recent. At least in the mid-nineteenth century, the idea began to take root in people's minds, and locally there was always a demand for the recognition of Zealand as a continent. That claim was rekindled in the 1960's, when scientists discovered the existence of the continent in search of oil at the bottom of the ocean.

According to scientists, the emergence of Zealand as a continent is not a sudden discovery, but a gradual realization; Image Source: Chris McLennan / Alamy

Another important year in the study of Zelandia was 1995, when the American geologist Bruce Luandic introduced the name Zelandia worldwide, setting the model for recognizing it as the eighth possible continent of the world.

Luandic, however, was able to identify three of the four conditions for being recognized as a continent of Zealand. The condition of the precise boundary was missing there. Since then, geologists have begun to study Zelandia with renewed vigor in order to meet one of the remaining conditions, and an institutional form of that long journey is the study of Mortimer and Campbell.

They made great strides in 2002 with the creation of a bathymetric map, and finally with satellite technology and gravity mapping of the ocean surface, they successfully demonstrated that Zealand is also a vast, integrated territory.

Bathemetric map of Zealand; Image Source: sciencelearn.org.nz

Not only has it been scientifically proven that Zelandia is a continent, but is the textbook referring to it as a separate continent? No, so far very few countries in the world have included the name of Zealand as a continent in their textbooks.

Many may think that textbook authors are waiting for a formal recognition. But in reality there is no international forum or organization to formally recognize a territory as a continent. So whether or not Zelandia is the eighth continent of the world does not depend on the announcement of any forum. Rather, it must be abandoned over time.

Zealand on the world map; Image Source: GNS Science

There may be more research on Zelandia in the future, in which it will be recognized as a continent, and through it many more people in the world (especially scientists) will gradually recognize it as a continent. Thus gradually, when Zelandia becomes a continent of universal knowledge, perhaps its name will also appear on the pages of textbooks.

Of course, this is not the end of the debate. It can be seen that many people including Zelandia are holding the number seven continents of the world. And yet they are counting the number of continents on Earth, excluding Zealandia. This is because they do not consider Europe and Asia as two separate continents. Since Europe and Asia are on the same land, they collectively call these two continents 'Eurasia'.