The mysterious continent of Zealandia is transformed by the Pacific Ring of Fire

Scientists have discovered new facilities related to the mysterious continent of Zealandia under the Pacific Ocean, which experienced a major upheaval about 35 to 50 million years ago.

Zealandia is like the missing Atlantic kingdom. This is considered the 8th continent and also the smallest continent of the Earth.

According to results published in the journal Geology, the scientists now believe that topographic changes may be related to the reactivation of ancient fault lines related to the formation of the Western Ring of Fire in Thailand. Binh Duong.

Image depicting the continent of Zealandia.

Scientists have long believed that Zealandia's crust began to thin as it separated from Gondwana, an ancient supercontinent including Antarctica and Australia, some 85 million years ago.

The American Geological Association also confirmed that the fossils in the drills collected in 2017 showed that parts of Zealandia increased by 1 to 2 km while other parts settled at the same time before the entire continent sank. deep underwater.

"Strong changes in northern Zealandia, an area the size of India, coincide with the shifts of the rock layers and the formation of underwater volcanoes throughout the western Pacific." Rupert Sutherland, geophysicist from Victoria University said.

One of the incredible things about the scientists' observations is that they reveal early signs of the Ring of Fire almost simultaneously across the western Pacific.

Sutherland and colleagues have come up with a new mechanism called a "sinking event" comparable to a large but super slow earthquake.

Scientists don't know where or why, but something happened due to local motion and when it started to slip like in an earthquake, the motion quickly spread to adjacent parts of the system. faults and around the western Pacific Ocean.