Elementary school geography presents the world in such a tidy manner.
For instance, it informs us that there are seven continents on our planet; however, reality is much more intricate.
Researchers are constantly encountering lost landmasses those that form crucial parts of the mosaic describing our planet’s geological past.
Now, a whole new continent has been discovered hiding under the frozen waters of the north Atlantic Ocean .
The finding occurred in the vicinity of the Davis Strait, a substantial body of water situated between Canada ’s Baffin Island and Greenland .
The strait came into existence millions of years ago due to the movement of tectonic plates between the two islands, which altered the landscape. Earth’s crust.
As a result, a substantial continental crust developed within the oceanic environment, and this area is now recognized as a recently identified primitive microcontinent.
In a study that appeared in the journal Gondwana Research A group of researchers from the UK and Sweden mapped out the movement of tectonic plates that took place in the region near Davis Strait approximately 33 to 61 million years ago.
They discovered that this led to the creation of an exceptionally thick layer of continental crust, measuring from 12 to 15 miles in thickness, located off-shore within Greenland’s western water bodies. Popular Mechanics notes.
It has since been named the Davis Strait proto-microcontinent.
As per the specialists, examining this newly discovered landmass and how it formed will enhance our comprehension of comparable geographical formations.
“The mechanism for microcontinent formation we have identified could potentially be applied broadly to various microcontinents worldwide,” the researchers stated in their document.
Additional research is warranted to comprehend the impact of alterations in plate movement and transpression on the breaking off of microcontinents.
The tale was initially released on July 17, 2024.
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