Updated Mar 11, 2021 | 19:15 IST
So, now we must get ready to revise our knowledge about the Earth's topography. Not seven, but eight continents sit atop it, nevermind the fact that the newest discovery is 94% under the sea.
Zealandia is the submerged continent that lies next to Australia (Pic courtesy: GNS)
Key Highlights
Millions of years ago, Gondwana and Laurasia were two land masses formed out of one land mass Pangaea. The now discovered Zealandia formed about 5% of the land mass of Gondwana. Then Gondwana broke up and the fragmented land masses drifted apart with oceans between them.
The Northern hemisphere seemed to have a far larger chunk of the land mass and a Dutch sailor who navigated the oceans without all this tectonic shifts theory knowledge thought that the Southern hemisphere ought to have another continent apart from Australia.