Pebrero 25, 2013

Scientists think they've found the lost continent of Mauritia, underneath the Indian Ocean.

It was once part of the supercontinent known as Rodinia, which looked like this as it was breaking up 750 million years ago:



See Mauritia in there between what was on its way to becoming India and what became Madagascar? How do they know it's Mauritia? According to the linked article, it has to do with zircon.



It all fits together.

40 komento:

kentuckyliz ayon kay ...

I blame climate change.

Nonapod ayon kay ...

Named after the Isle of Mauritius. I recently reread the Patrick O'Brian book The Mauritius Command, which was a fictitious retelling of the events of the Mauritius Campaign during the Napoleonic Wars. Great story, as are all the Aubrey-Maturin books.

edutcher ayon kay ...

I saw this item earlier.

The Blonde's nephew was a great Pangea buff when he was younger.

I wonder if he know about Rodinia.

Revenant ayon kay ...

Neat!

YoungHegelian ayon kay ...

Zircon crystals play a big role in the dating of "deep time" rocks & strata.

How did such a large chunk of land end up under water? Remember that as the "Indian" part of the plate drifted north and smacked into Asia forming the Himalayas, that end of the plate rose. And, like a sofa cushion, when one end of the plate rises the other end sinks.

ampersand ayon kay ...

I wonder what force caused most of the land mass to end up on the arctic half?

Alex ayon kay ...

Globular clusters are to blame.

Wince ayon kay ...

750 million years of incontinence?

chickelit ayon kay ...

Your link to zircon includes a discussion of metamictization, an ungainly word (but fascinating concept) in need of a simpler term. I called it crystalline rot.

David ayon kay ...

Time! The forgotten dimension.

KCFleming ayon kay ...

It's always in the last place you look.

chickelit ayon kay ...

David said...
Time! The forgotten dimension.

You should enunciate that with Rod Serling's clenched diction.

KCFleming ayon kay ...

It's like they found the missing sock.

YoungHegelian ayon kay ...

Hail, Hail Rodinia, land of the free and brave!

YoungHegelian ayon kay ...

When I look at the map that's posted in the article, the question that springs to mind is: okay, where did the majority of the land mass of modern Africa and Eurasia come from in a "short" 750 million years?

That's a lot of continental mass to add to the total land mass of Rodinia.

Lem Vibe Bandit ayon kay ...

Governor Walker is on CSPAN2 right now.

traditionalguy ayon kay ...

See, see. That is what global warming can do: Continent change. It's all here in a computer model.

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

Now posted on Drudge:

"Home Shopping Network busy exclusive rights to dredged Mauritian sands; seeks to control Cubic Zirconia market".

Revenant ayon kay ...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

There is an arbitrary size limit that has to be exceeded before an island becomes a "continent". Mauritius, like Greenland, is too small to make the cut.

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

All Caused by global warming. If only they'd had thought of carbon credits!

Unknown ayon kay ...

Yeh! Right! This is absolute nonsense.
Wedding Dress

Chip Ahoy ayon kay ...

Hello. I've just been handed a message from a representative of the ancient underwater microcontinent that was once in the form of a strip of sand and at one time long ago was positioned directly between the present-day subcontinent India and the island Madagascar, a place called Mauritia.

En tiempos muy remotos y un lugar muy lejos, ahora bajo la agua.

The representative is an octopus and the message is in the form of a plate of white rice with squid ink squeezed onto it in a strange but oddly compelling pattern. I asked the representative from Mauritia why it didn't use its own ink it said, "pfffft."

The message reads something like:

"The Shirley Bassey rendition of Goldfinger at the 2013 Academy Award ceremony is the best that we've heard. Her voice is very much improved over earlier recordings, which are grating by comparison. Recording of her mature voice are available for your download, and the inhabitants of Mauritia recommend it."

George M. Spencer ayon kay ...

It was that war between Freedonia and Sylvania that did the sinking.

AllenS ayon kay ...

Why didn't Michelle Obama deliver this news?

Nomennovum ayon kay ...

Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but plate tectonics is kind of a cunt, right?

McTriumph ayon kay ...

The only important part of the article.....

Prof Torsvik explained: "We need seismic data which can image the structure... this would be the ultimate proof. Or you can drill deep, but that would cost a lot of money."

Seismic or otherwise, it would cost "a lot of money". Not Prof Torsvik's, who's money?

Rusty ayon kay ...

Why are we finding out about this now?! Now when it's too late to do anything!

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

How soon before Washington D.C. and the surrounding area sinks beneath the waters? Or was that merely a hopeful dream I had last night?

Phil 314 ayon kay ...

Exclusive footage of the discovery

Astro ayon kay ...

Nanopod - agree completely about O'Brian.

Shirley Bassey singing 'Goldfinger' was one of the few moments of the Oscars I saw. I noticed that she missed her cue to start, but the musicians did a great job of covering for her.

It seems like hyperbole to describe a tiny strip of land as a continent, or even as a microcontinent.

ricpic ayon kay ...

What kind of facacta map fails to show the lost continent of Brooklyn?

Michael The Magnificent ayon kay ...

Perhaps there were too many people on it, and it capsized?

Methadras ayon kay ...

I blame plate tectonics. Something not even the leftists can stop. Oh, that and the warmth of the sun that our atmosphere absorbs.

Eventually plate tectonics will stop, when that happens, whatever is left on earth can then blame George Bush.

Phil 314 ayon kay ...

I blame plate tectonics.

I blame George Bush

HT to James Taranto

Diomedes ayon kay ...

So now that they've finally found a lost continent linking India and Madagascar, they're unwilling to name it Lemuria? For shame!!

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