- 2 days ago
How many continents does Earth really have? While most of us learned there are seven, new geological research suggests the number may be higher. Scientists have identified a hidden fragment of continental crust beneath the Davis Strait, between Canada and Greenland. In this video, we explore what defines a continent, how this hidden land was discovered, and why it matters for plate tectonics, seismic activity, and our understanding of Earth’s deep past. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00Hey, quick question. How many continents are there? Seven? Maybe five?
00:05There's no correct answer. According to different approaches, the range is between four to seven.
00:11But it might actually be as many as eight.
00:14Chances are, a lost continent has recently been found between Greenland and Canada.
00:19This new continent discovery could also potentially be the key to how microcontinents form.
00:25What does this all mean, and what makes this hidden landmass near Greenland so important?
00:30Now, if you're like me, and if you are, then there's two of us.
00:34When you hear the word continent, you probably think of land like Europe or Africa.
00:39Places above water where people live.
00:42But in science, a continent isn't about being above sea level.
00:46It's about what the land is made of.
00:48Earth's outer layer, called the crust, comes in two main types, continental and oceanic.
00:55Continental one is thicker, lighter, and made of different types of rock, like granite.
01:00The oceanic crust is thinner, heavier, and made mostly of dark volcanic rock.
01:06Now, the discovery under the Davis Strait, between Greenland and Canada,
01:10appears to be a piece of continental landmass, even though it's under the ocean.
01:15Scientists call it a proto-microcontinent.
01:18Because it began to break off from a larger terrain millions of years ago, but never quite made it.
01:24As tectonic plates slowly shifted, the Earth's crust in this region stretched and cracked.
01:30One chunk started to split away, but for some reason, the process stopped.
01:35It didn't drift off like a full continent, and it didn't sink like ocean crust either.
01:40Instead, it stayed right there, floating beneath the waves all this time.
01:44This makes it different from true microcontinents, like Zealandia, which have completely detached and now exist as separate tectonic blocks.
01:55Zealandia is a submerged microcontinent near New Zealand.
01:59About 94% of it lies underwater.
02:01But because it's made of continental crust, many geologists say it qualifies as Earth's eighth continent.
02:08However, Zealandia is still debated because it's too big to be a microcontinent, and there's no official global body to define its status.
02:17There's no global organization like the UN or some kind of International Geology Council that can declare,
02:23hey, this is a new continent.
02:24Unlike Madagascar, which is fully above sea level and widely accepted by geologists as a classic example of a microcontinent,
02:33Zealandia is still waiting for a proper label.
02:37I know you're probably wondering, isn't Madagascar an island?
02:40The simple answer is, it's both.
02:43It's the fourth largest island in the world, completely surrounded by water.
02:47But it's also geologically considered a microcontinent because it broke off from the supercontinent Ganwanda around 88 million years ago
02:55and is made of continental crust, not oceanic crust.
02:59Unlike volcanic islands like Hawaii, this isn't just built from lava.
03:04It's a real piece of ancient continental crust.
03:07So, Madagascar checks both boxes.
03:10Island by geography, microcontinent by geology.
03:13And that's exactly why these discoveries can be fascinating.
03:18Just like Madagascar stands out above the waves,
03:21this newly discovered landmass under the Davis Strait stands out beneath them,
03:26thanks to its unusual structure.
03:28What makes it stand out is its unusual thickness.
03:31Most of the ocean floor is thin, like metal.
03:34This is more like packed clay, layered with continental materials.
03:38Underneath this cozy comforter, scientists discovered some odd layers of rock.
03:44Unusual because they're not where they should be.
03:47These layers act more like the materials found on continents rather than those typically seen on ocean floors.
03:53There are hints of granite-like formations and distinct magnetic properties,
03:58which suggest that this stuff is similar to what makes up dry land.
04:01The size is also remarkable.
04:04The proto-microcontinent is about 12 to 15 miles across,
04:09which makes it roughly the size of a mid-sized city,
04:11like Manhattan Island that's 6,500 feet underwater.
04:15The fact that it sits right under the Davis Strait,
04:18one of the widest ocean passages on Earth,
04:21makes it one of the largest submerged continental fragments we've found.
04:25According to researchers, this landmass began to form between 58 and 49 million years ago,
04:31when Greenland and Canada were slowly drifting apart.
04:35Maybe they just weren't getting along.
04:36It happens.
04:38As they pulled apart, the crust under the Davis Strait stretched,
04:42and one of the main fault lines shifted.
04:44But the breakup didn't finish.
04:46Around 48 million years ago, the rifting stalled,
04:50and Greenland's motion away from Canada slowed dramatically,
04:54when it later bumped into Ellsmore Island.
04:56It's like a car swerving off and then back onto the freeway,
05:00a turn that was never completed.
05:02That's basically what happened.
05:04A chunk of land got stuck between the motion.
05:07It didn't float off into the ocean like a new continent,
05:09and it didn't get pulled down into the Earth either.
05:12It just stayed where it was, stranded beneath the water.
05:16But that's not all.
05:17This chunk has its own fault system.
05:20And scientists say it actually looks like a miniature version
05:22of the San Andreas Fault in California.
05:25Now, a fault is basically a crack in the Earth's crust
05:28where sections of rock slide past each other.
05:31Think of it as a place where the Earth's surface split
05:34and try to slide sideways.
05:36In California, this movement still happens today
05:39and can cause earthquakes.
05:41But under the Davis Strait, it's a different story.
05:44The movement started, then suddenly stopped,
05:47like hitting pause in the middle of a big shift.
05:49It's a frozen moment in the planet's past,
05:52preserved right beneath the waves.
05:54For geologists, that makes the microcontinent
05:57under Davis Strait incredibly valuable.
06:00That sudden pause in motion helps explain
06:02why some chunks of land break away cleanly,
06:05while others twist, stall, or disappear.
06:08But this isn't just academic.
06:11By studying how continents break apart or stall,
06:14scientists can better predict future shifts in land,
06:17fault lines, and seismic activity.
06:19And predicting earthquakes and geological hazards
06:22could prove quite valuable to everyone.
06:25Knowing how microcontinents form could help us anticipate
06:28how the planet's surface might shift over millions of years,
06:32which affects everything from climate models
06:34to resource availability.
06:36But even just the technological advancement needed
06:39for such discoveries is greatly beneficial.
06:42The same tools used to map this hidden land
06:45are used for oil exploration,
06:46laying undersea cables, climate monitoring,
06:49and even search and rescue missions.
06:52Speaking of technology,
06:53for a long time,
06:55this hidden landmass near Greenland remained invisible.
06:58Just 10 or 15 years ago,
06:59the ocean floor under the Davis Strait
07:01was basically a mystery.
07:03It's deep, almost frozen,
07:05obviously not the easiest place to explore.
07:08But today, thanks to modern tools,
07:10a new continent discovery could be just a matter of time.
07:15Scientists can finally see and hear
07:17what's going on under all that water.
07:19First, they use seismic reflection imaging.
07:22That's a method where ships send sound waves
07:24down to the ocean floor
07:25and record how they bounce back.
07:28Various layers of rock reflect sounds in different ways,
07:31which helps build a picture of what's hidden underneath.
07:34It's kind of like how bats use echoes to see in the dark.
07:38Satellites also play a role in collecting gravity data.
07:42This may sound strange,
07:43but different types of rocks have slightly different weights.
07:46Heavier rocks create stronger gravitational pull,
07:49and satellites can measure those tiny differences.
07:53Another tool commonly used for these explorations
07:55is underwater sensors,
07:57which sit quietly on the seafloor
07:59and listen for natural vibrations,
08:01like many earthquakes or shifts in rock.
08:04These vibrations help scientists figure out
08:06what the crust is made of and how thick it is.
08:09They're basically ears on the ocean floor.
08:12They also most likely used AUVs,
08:15or autonomous underwater vehicles,
08:18basically robot submarines
08:19that can scan the seafloor in high resolution,
08:22even under thick ice.
08:24In any case, scientists are very excited
08:26because this new continent discovery
08:28is more than just a geological surprise.
08:31It's what they call a natural laboratory.
08:34The study of the microcontinent Davis Strait
08:36offers a rare opportunity to understand
08:39how microcontinents form, evolve,
08:41and sometimes fail to fully separate.
08:44It also reminds us that Earth's crust
08:47isn't as neatly divided as we once thought.
08:50Beneath the ocean,
08:51there may be other hidden landmasses
08:53near Greenland or elsewhere,
08:55almost continents,
08:56just waiting to be found.
08:57This lost continent of Canada
08:59may not have made it as a fully-fledged landmass,
09:02but its discovery is already reshaping
09:05how we view plate tectonics.
09:08And thanks to advances in technology,
09:10places we once ignored
09:11are now offering up secrets
09:13about the planet's deep past
09:15and maybe even its future.
09:18Now quick,
09:19how many continents are there on Earth?
09:21You'd probably say seven, I would.
09:23But honestly,
09:24this question doesn't have a right answer anymore.
09:28Technically, yes,
09:29Earth has seven continents.
09:31But our geography books
09:32have been ignoring this whole part of the world.
09:35For years,
09:36scientists have been arguing
09:37that there's actually an eighth continent
09:39hiding out there.
09:40And it's called Zealandia.
09:43Turns out this lost continent
09:44isn't so lost anymore.
09:46A few years ago,
09:48researchers finally mapped out
09:49exactly where Zealandia is
09:51and how massive it really is.
09:54And that was a first,
09:55because Zealandia is nothing like the other continents.
09:58Think about it.
09:59Asia, Europe, Africa,
10:01you can spot them from space.
10:03Or better yet,
10:04just look down at your feet.
10:05Right now,
10:06you are standing on a continent.
10:08But most people don't realize
10:10every continent on Earth
10:11has parts we can't step on
10:13or even see.
10:15A lot of their land is hidden under the ocean,
10:17and those areas are tough to map
10:19or even explore.
10:21Now,
10:22imagine a continent
10:22that's 94% underwater.
10:25That'd be almost impossible to find, right?
10:28Well,
10:28that's Zealandia,
10:29a massive chunk of land
10:31located beneath the Pacific Ocean.
10:33And there's a reason for that.
10:36A long,
10:37long time ago,
10:38Zealandia was part of Gondwana,
10:41an ancient supercontinent
10:42that included South America,
10:44Africa,
10:45Antarctica,
10:46Australia,
10:46and parts of Asia.
10:48For millions of years,
10:49Gondwanda held together,
10:51until it started breaking apart
10:53about 200 million years ago.
10:55Its pieces slowly drifted
10:57in different directions,
10:59and one of them was Zealandia.
11:01At first,
11:01it was still connected
11:02to both Australia and Antarctica.
11:05But around 85 million years ago,
11:07Zealandia finally split off
11:09and began drifting on its own,
11:11becoming an isolated continent.
11:14Now,
11:14unlike Australia or Antarctica,
11:17Zealandia didn't stay
11:18on the surface for long.
11:19It sank.
11:21Today,
11:21only a small part of it
11:22sticks out above the ocean.
11:24That's mostly New Zealand,
11:26plus New Caledonia,
11:27and a few smaller Pacific islands.
11:29The rest is hidden under the sea.
11:32But hold on,
11:33how did Zealandia sink
11:34in the first place?
11:36For years,
11:37most experts thought
11:38Zealandia broke away
11:40in a process called
11:41a strike-slip breakup.
11:43That's when continents
11:44split apart along huge,
11:46strike-slip fault zones.
11:48Places where tectonic plates
11:49slide past each other,
11:51side by side.
11:52But something about that theory
11:54never quite added up.
11:56After years of research,
11:58scientists think
11:58they have finally
11:59cracked the mystery.
12:01Turns out,
12:02Zealandia's crust,
12:03or the outer shell
12:04of the continent,
12:05had been stretched thin.
12:06Yep,
12:07that's right.
12:08Instead of sliding sideways,
12:09like they once thought,
12:10the land was actually
12:11stretching and breaking.
12:13It's just like pulling
12:14a piece of dough
12:15until it gets so thin
12:16it finally tears.
12:17That's basically
12:18what happened to Zealandia.
12:20The land stretched so much
12:22it eventually snapped.
12:23And that happened
12:24because the tectonic plates
12:26beneath Zealandia
12:27were pulling apart,
12:28thinning the crust
12:29until it finally broke.
12:31And when it did,
12:32it cracked big time.
12:34The cracks were big enough
12:35for ocean water
12:36to rush in through the gaps,
12:38creating what we now know
12:39as the Tasman Sea.
12:41A few million years later,
12:43even more stretching,
12:44left Zealandia's crust
12:45thinner and weaker.
12:47Eventually,
12:48it gave way,
12:49and huge parts of it
12:50sank beneath the waves,
12:52sealing its fate
12:53as a lost continent.
12:55But it wasn't
12:55all that lost.
12:57Experts had actually
12:58suspected its existence
12:59for almost 400 years.
13:01And the big clue
13:02was its unusual thickness.
13:05You see,
13:05Earth's crust
13:06comes in two main kinds.
13:08We've got continental crust
13:09and oceanic crust.
13:11They're both part of
13:12the planet's outer shell
13:13of solid rock,
13:14but there are some
13:15big differences
13:16between them.
13:17The continental crust
13:18is kind of like
13:19a Chicago deep dish pizza.
13:21It's thicker.
13:22The oceanic crust,
13:23on the other hand,
13:24is more like
13:25a New York slice,
13:26thinner.
13:27Now, let's drop
13:28both slices
13:28into a tank of water
13:29and see what happens.
13:31Okay,
13:32let's just say
13:33the deep dish
13:33is lighter,
13:34so it floats.
13:35That's why continents
13:36sit above the ocean.
13:38The New York slice
13:39is heavier,
13:40so it sinks
13:40to the bottom of the tank.
13:42And that's why
13:43oceanic crust
13:44ends up lower,
13:45forming the ocean floor.
13:46There's another
13:47key difference, too.
13:49Continental crust
13:49is made of lots
13:51of different types of rock,
13:52while oceanic crust
13:53is mostly basalt,
13:55that dark volcanic rock
13:56we get from eruptions.
13:58Knowing this,
13:59scientists used
14:00advanced technology
14:01to investigate
14:02the South Pacific.
14:03And what they found
14:04was surprising.
14:06Areas,
14:06once thought to be
14:07ordinary ocean floor,
14:09were actually
14:10basalt-free,
14:11and much thicker
14:12than ocean crust
14:13should be.
14:14So, wait,
14:15could our sunken
14:16New York-style pizza
14:17actually be
14:18a Chicago deep dish?
14:19Well, yeah.
14:21Even though
14:22Zealandia's crust
14:23is still thinner
14:23than other continents,
14:25it's way thicker
14:26than real oceanic crust.
14:27Which means
14:28it's not just
14:29a patchwork
14:30of ocean floor
14:31and continental scraps.
14:32It's all
14:33continental crust.
14:35Just a drowned
14:36version of it.
14:37In February 2017,
14:39scientists made
14:40the big announcement.
14:41Listen, everyone,
14:42Earth has
14:43eight continents.
14:44Ta-da!
14:45But back then,
14:46they had no idea
14:47what Zealandia
14:48really looked like.
14:49There wasn't a map
14:50or anything.
14:51And that's probably
14:52why so many people
14:53still don't know
14:54it exists.
14:54Even inside
14:56the scientific community,
14:57not everyone
14:58was thrilled
14:58about calling it
14:59the eighth continent.
15:01Some people believe
15:02that the strange land
15:03at the bottom
15:03of the ocean
15:04was just a bunch
15:05of submerged fragments
15:06or microcontinents.
15:08Now, here's the thing,
15:09though.
15:10Even before that
15:11big public announcement,
15:13an international team
15:14had already set sail
15:15on an expedition.
15:16They went near
15:17New Caledonia
15:18to collect
15:19seabed rock samples
15:20from North Zealandia,
15:21or precisely
15:22from Fairway Ridge
15:24in the Coral Sea.
15:25Fast forward six years,
15:27and those very samples
15:28unlocked a major discovery
15:29about Zealandia,
15:31its true size.
15:33The combination
15:33of rock dating methods,
15:35magnetic signatures,
15:36and tectonic mapping
15:37helped scientists
15:39define where
15:39Zealandia's boundaries lie.
15:42And they found
15:42that Zealandia
15:43has nearly
15:44two million square miles
15:45of landmass.
15:47To put that in perspective,
15:48that's about
15:4920 times bigger
15:50than New Zealand.
15:51For many specialists,
15:52its size
15:53and completeness
15:54basically rule out
15:55the idea
15:56that Zealandia
15:57isn't a real continent.
15:58But why doesn't
16:00it feel official yet?
16:01I mean,
16:02we don't see it
16:02on maps, right?
16:04Well,
16:04that's because
16:05it's hard
16:06to get everyone
16:06to agree on
16:07calling it a continent.
16:09And the biggest reason
16:10people resist it
16:11so much
16:11might be pretty simple.
16:13It's just not convenient.
16:15You see,
16:16continents are generally
16:17identified by convention
16:18rather than
16:19by strict criteria.
16:20Depending on the perspective,
16:23people recognize
16:23four, five, six,
16:25or seven continents
16:26because there's
16:27no such thing
16:28as a continent authority.
16:30And you are not
16:31going to see
16:31an international commission
16:32go on TV
16:33to name a new continent
16:34or to make an official list
16:36of how many there are.
16:38Being almost entirely
16:40underwater
16:40doesn't help
16:41Zealandia's case.
16:42I mean,
16:43is it really fair
16:44to call it a continent
16:45like Asia or Africa?
16:47Some people argue
16:48that if Zealandia qualifies,
16:50then other smaller blocks
16:51of continental crust
16:52like the Cocos Islands
16:54or other micro-continents
16:56could also make the list.
16:58So,
16:58how many more continents
16:59would we have to add
17:00to the list?
17:01See why
17:02it's not very convenient?
17:04Maybe it's safer
17:05to call Zealandia
17:06a submerged
17:07or sunken continent
17:08that's more accurate.
17:10Although,
17:10to be fair,
17:11the true definition
17:12of a sunken continent
17:13is still kind of fuzzy.
17:15But honestly,
17:16I wouldn't worry too much
17:18about the official definition
17:19of Zealandia.
17:20What really matters
17:21is that fully mapping it
17:23is already a big deal.
17:25Just keep in mind
17:26that large parts of it
17:27remain unexplored.
17:29Scientists are confident
17:30that technologies
17:31like seismic imaging
17:32and deep-sea drilling
17:34will uncover even more
17:35about its structure
17:36and history.
17:37And just because
17:38Zealandia is mostly underwater
17:40doesn't make it any less
17:41of a geological marvel.
17:43This sunken landmass
17:45actually preserves clues
17:46about Earth's past
17:47that we might never see
17:49on continents
17:49above the surface.
17:51It might help scientists
17:52understand
17:53how continents shift
17:54as the plates move around.
17:56They also hope
17:57to find more clues
17:58about how drifting continents
18:00affect sea level,
18:01climate patterns,
18:02and the distribution
18:03of plants and animals.
18:05Each new discovery
18:06could sharpen
18:07our understanding
18:08of how Earth's surface
18:09reshapes itself.
18:11So,
18:11continent or not,
18:13Zealandia has already changed
18:15how we see our planet.
18:17That's it for today.
18:18So, hey,
18:18if you pacified your curiosity,
18:20then give the video a like
18:21and share it with your friends.
18:23Or, if you want more,
18:24just click on these videos
18:25and stay on the bright side!
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