The area around New Zealand has long been a focus of scientific curiosity, particularly with the 2017 discovery of an elusive continent, Zealandia, also known as Te Riu-a-Māui in the Māori language.
This newly identified continent, Zealandia, is Earth’s eighth continent, mostly submerged under a kilometer of water.
After its discovery, a dedicated team of scientists embarked on an extensive study to uncover this continent’s mysteries.
A group of 32 scientists from 12 different nations conducted drilling operations to examine the rock formations underneath the water.
Jamie Allan, program director at the US National Science Foundation’s Division of Ocean Sciences, the leading team for the 2017 mission, stated: “Zealandia, a sunken continent long lost beneath the oceans, is giving up its 60 million-year-old secrets through scientific ocean drilling.
“This expedition offered insights into Earth’s history, ranging from mountain-building in New Zealand to the shifting movements of Earth’s tectonic plates to changes in ocean circulation and global climate.”
This daring project was part of a nine-week expedition where scientists drilled into the seabed to gather rock samples from the eighth continent.
Across six locations, the team drilled down to 1,250 meters, amassing an impressive 2,500 meters of sediment and rock samples.
The expedition aimed to track the geological, volcanic, and climatic evolution of Zealandia over a span of 70 million years.
Findings from the 2017 study were unexpected, revealing that Earth’s eighth continent had a vastly different history.
Scientists uncovered fossils of hundreds of species that existed in various environments and climates.
This suggested that Zealandia’s past was quite distinct from the underwater world we recognize today.
Co-author of the study, Rupert Sutherland, remarked at the time: “Big geographic changes across northern Zealandia, which is about the same size as India, have implications for understanding questions such as how plants and animals dispersed and evolved in the South Pacific.
“The discovery of past land and shallow seas now provides an explanation. There were pathways for animals and plants to move along.”