Is New Zealand hiding the eighth continent?

SCIENTISTS claim to have found a hidden continent.

it lies submerged in the ocean surrounding new zealand – giv-ing it the name zealandia.

only 6 per cent of the continent is above the waves – a few small islands and three major land-masses, new zealand’s north and south islands and new Caledonia.

The scientists say zealandia qualifies as a continent because it has the same criteria as the other seven. it has its own dis-tinctive geology, especially in being elevated above the sur-rounding seafloor.

The findings of the six-year study were published in the journal of the geological society of America. ‘This is a big piece of ground we’re talking about, even if it is sub-merged,’ said nick Mortimer, a new zealand geologist and main author of the article. ‘if we could pull the plug on the oceans, it would be clear to everybody that we have mountain chains and a big, high standing continent. What we hope is zealandia will appear on world maps everywhere. The revelation is pretty exciting.’

Currently, new zealand and new Caledonia are part of the oceania continent. There is no scientific body that formally rec-ognises continents, so any change would take time to be accepted.

The scientists say zealandia measures 1.9million square miles – about two thirds the size of neighbouring Australia. it is believed to have broken away from gondwana – the immense landmass that once encompassed Australia – before sinking between 60million and 85million years ago.

us geophysicist Bruce Luyendyk was the first to apply the name zea-landia to a south-west Pacific con-tinent in 1995. since then, the paper’s co-authors say it has had ‘moderate uptake’ but was still not broadly known to global scientists.