The legend of a lost continent submerged under the ocean may not actually be a myth — kind of.
According to research published by the Geology Society of America, the island nation of New Zealand is actually a small portion of a submerged land mass that is two-thirds the size of Australia and fits the definition of a continent.
Scientists are calling the new continent Zealandia and argue that just because it’s underwater doesn’t mean it should be discounted as a a distinct land mass. According to the AFP, 94 percent of Zealandia is underwater, with New Zealand and and New Caledonia forming the only portions that are above sea level.
At 1.9 million square miles, Zealandia is larger than Greenland, which is commonly regarded as the world’s largest island. Researchers also argue that it has distinct limits when compared to the oceanic crust and a unique geology that separate it from other large land areas that are not continents.
However, as Nature reports, there is not a universally accepted definition for a continent, leading to conflicting education among countries. While most English-speaking nations teach children that there are seven continents — North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Antarctica — some fold Europe and Asia into one land mass, Eurasia, and others include Africa in that mix. Others consider North and South America to be two parts of one continent.
As a result, Zealandia’s discovery has been met with some confusion by the scientific community and the general population.
“Claiming that Zealandia is a continent is a bit like stamp collecting,” Peter Cawood, a geologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, told Nature. “So what?”
“No, thank you, I have quite enough continents already,” Elizabeth Lopatto, a writer for The Verge, said upon hearing the news.
Others merely used the news as an opportunity to make jokes.
I, for one, welcome our new #zealandia overlords.
Anyone else thinking of moving to #Zealandia? I know I am.
Somebody is out there discovering whole new continents and I'm just sitting here trying to pass anatomy & organic chem #zealandia
An eighth continent was just discovered. Trump immediately accused it of harboring terrorists. #zealandia
But Zealandia’s advocates argue that recognizing the land mass as its own continents is important to understanding how ecology evolves across different areas and recognizing differences in geology, according to Popular Science. Furthermore, some say the debate as a whole highlights the need for a universally accepted definition of what a continent really is.
“One of the main benefits of this article is that it draws attention to the arbitrary and inconsistent use of such a fundamental term as continent,” Brendan Murphy, a geologist at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Canada, told Nature.
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