The deep oceans of the South Pacific have been hiding a secret for millions of years . In the waters surrounding New Zealand , scientist latterly discovered the satellite ’s 7th continent , the majority of which now lies a kilometre underwater . Now researchers havestarted to unravel its secrets , by drilling down into the rock and studying what they bump .
“ Zealandia , a recessed continent long lost beneath the oceans , is give up its 60 million - year - old closed book through scientific sea drilling,”saidJamie Allan , project director of the expedition . “ This excursion put up insights into Earth ’s history , range from mountain - construction in New Zealand to the shifting movement of Earth ’s architectonic plates to changes in sea circulation and world-wide clime . ”
During the nine - week ocean trip , the investigator drilled down late into the seabed to sample the rocks that make up Zealandia . At six sites they bored down at profundity of 1,250 beat ( 4,101 feet ) , and collected over 2,500 meter ( 8,202 feet ) Charles Frederick Worth of sediment and rock sample . This telling record of the area ’s geology tape how the geology , volcanism , and mood on the drowned continent has altered during the preceding few tenner of millions of year .
When look through these sample distribution , the investigator learn something highly significant . They found the remains of hundreds of dodo , cover a wide array of metal money from the microscopic shells of fauna that favour fond shallow ocean to deep continental shelves , to the spores of land plants . This hinted at a past for Zealandia that is vastly unlike to the subaquatic watery land we see today .
It seems that the continent wasonce tantalize luxuriously above the waves , and was no uncertainty a haven for a whole master of ceremonies of fauna and plant at the time . They suspect that as the continent split up from Australia and Antarctica some 80 million age ago , it set into action at law a chain of consequence that eventually climax in the Edwin Herbert Land lot slowly sinking beneath the Wave , leaving just the islands of New Zealand and a few others top out above the Earth’s surface .
And this , it turns out , could assist excuse how some of the wildlife in the South Pacific end up where it is today despite being separated by vast tracts of deep ocean .
“ crowing geographical changes across northerly Zealandia , which is about the same size as India , have entailment for empathize questions such as how plants and animals dispersed and evolved in the South Pacific,”remarkedRupert Sutherland , co - generator of the study write inThe Geological Society of America . “ The uncovering of retiring land and shallow sea now offer an account . There were nerve pathway for brute and plant life to move along . ”
The research will now focalise on how the movement of the tectonic shell be active and make the land mass to sink .
