Posted on 05/06/2007 10:56:52 PM PDT by CarrotAndStick
BREMERHAVEN (Germany): A mini-continent that was formerly joined to India has been discovered deep under the southern oceans by the worlds most powerful ice research vessel, said German scientists.
They spoke as the ship, the Polarstern, was due to dock in its homeport of Bremerhaven, Germany after a 19-month research voyage to Antarctica.
The ninth phase of the voyage was a study of the undersea Kerguelen Plateau, which was orphaned after the ancient continents separated, with India drifting away from Antarctica. The findings suggest that the plateau, about the size of Germany and France combined, is just the tip of a bigger piece of lost continental crust, the scientists said.
Geophysicists did seismic and magnetic surveys to explore the gap between the little-understood plateau and East Antarctica, the Alfred Wegener Institute of polar research in Bremerhaven said.
This plateau was created by a massive volcanic eruption shortly after India and Antarctica separated about 120 million years ago to form the Indian Ocean, said geophysicist Karsten Gohl.
For the first time, we have been able to see how the succession of volcanic deposits at the southern side of the Kerguelen Plateau, which reach right to the Antarctic continent, mostly have continental crust underneath them.
Our findings show that a continental fragment of a size hitherto never suspected must have existed between India and the Antarctic. The data will be entered into a computer simulation to study ancient ocean currents and world climate. The Polarstern also explored the melting of the Antarctic ice shelves, which may be due to rising temperatures, or volcanic activity.
Of interest, ping?
Counting down until some kook inevitably claims this Atlantis (which Plato inevitably had to know about, despite the story being 120 million years old)...
Atlantis... You found it (just obliging)...
Its Bush’s fault.....
??? Or is it the Evil Oil Companies .....
I just hate when I lose my continents - it’s so embarrassing.
Now, find my Father... you son of a...
Opps! Inigo, it says "...once joined to India!"
Dang, I’ve been looking for that all day!
This isn’t a “new” discovery.
I can has mini-continent?
I hope you were not mislead by my Pangaea pictures... those weren’t from the main article.
:)
also here. They could have once had a page devoted to the microcontinent, but a quick search came up dry.
Oh okay, thanks! Weird, though, because what else could have been the purpose of this German mission, then?
This plateau was created by a massive volcanic eruption shortly after India and Antarctica separated about 120 million years ago to form the Indian Ocean,
But some Christians believe the world is less than 10,000 years old. Shouldn’t “both sides” be presented?
Oh, no no no, my friend, ancient time spun faster than the present ones, so, when you take into account the inflation of time, it all neatly comes down to 4500-odd years, in toto.
;^)
Lol!
(No need for a sarc tag, right?)
Could we then say it is incontinent? ;-)
(Sorry, trying to resist the "my fault" lines this morning...)
Oh, and here's a picture of Joey the Lemurian. :-)
Professor Jones from Indiana investigated that quite a bit in the 1930's... something about an Ark of the Covenant.
Hahahaha! Lol!
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