Gondwana mystery lures geologist back to AntarcticaGeologist Masaki Owada, 47, is looking forward to visiting Antarctica next November as the second in command of the 50th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition, the latest in a series aiming to uncover the mysteries of the ancient Gondwana supercontinent... Owada is a professor at Yamaguchi University's Graduate School. In June, the National Institute of Polar Research in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, offered him a chance to join the new expedition as second in command... The rocky mountains are said to be the center of the former Gondwana supercontinent, which is believed to have been formed 500 million years ago from the collision of several continents... By examining the mineral composition of the rocks, Owada hopes to get a picture of the Earth 200 million years in the future, when the Asian mainland, North America and the Japanese archipelago are predicted to collide.
by Seiji Otsuka
Yomiuri Shimbun
Did you feel the earth move?
Who came up with the goofy name “Gondwana”? Was it Owada?
Oh really? How about explaining when how and why a perfectly good continent, with mountains, deserts, lakes and rivers and forests suddenly became frozen solid?