Located in the Southern portion of the Pacific Ocean near Australia, 95 percent of Zealandia, the most promising eighth continent of the world, was submerged underwater, until recently when researchers have finally mapped out the rest of the land mass.
The latest research, led by Nick Mortimer, dredged the northern two-thirds of the submerged area, pulling up pebbly and cobbley sandstone, fine-grain sandstone, mudstone, bioclastic limestone, and basaltic lava from a variety of time periods.
By dating the rocks and interpreting magnetic anomalies, the researchers wrote, they were able to map the major geological units across North Zealandia.
“This work completes offshore reconnaissance geological mapping of the entire Zealandia continent,” they said.
More on this from Popular Mechanics.
(Image credit: NOAA/Wikimedia Commons, public domain)