In recent scientific breakthroughs, researchers have successfully completed the mapping of world’s newest 8th continent - Zealandia. The kind of organisms live here are very much intriguing. So how was this continent discovered?? Tune into this video to find out about the entire story…
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00:00Hello friends, I am Gaurav and look at this map.
00:03What do you see here?
00:04Only New Zealand, right?
00:06Well, on 26th September 2023, one of the most reputed journals in the field of geology, Tectonic,
00:12claimed that there is a huge continent called Zealandia under New Zealand.
00:19Interestingly, this continent is so huge that the entire Indian subcontinent,
00:24which is made up of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives,
00:30is also smaller than this new 8th continent.
00:33Now, obviously, this is not a small news.
00:36It is such a big news that it immediately went viral.
00:38Times of India, Hindustan Times, Economic Times, Times Now, WhyOn, NDTV, everyone is talking about it.
00:45But, one second, if such a big landmass exists under New Zealand,
00:50then naturally, it won't suddenly appear, right?
00:53So, how was it hidden from us for so many years?
00:57And why are all these news articles saying that this continent has been missing for the past 375 years?
01:04Do you think New Zealand could be behind this?
01:07Because New Zealand, for years, wanted to take over a large part of the sea resources through this Zealandia.
01:15Actually, friends, in 1982, the United Nations passed a law.
01:20United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
01:22Under this law, countries will have full control over the area 400 km away from their coastline
01:28and the natural resources and minerals present there.
01:32So, from the perspective of New Zealand, if the submerged land below it proves to be a continent,
01:37then its territory will be 6 times larger.
01:40It means that 6 times more natural resources and minerals come under their control.
01:45Now, obviously, if any country has 6 times more resources, then it must have had an impact.
01:52Obviously, economic growth will also increase by 6 times.
01:55And this opportunity was very promising for New Zealand, of course.
01:58Because of this, the chapter of the Lost Continent hidden below New Zealand was reopened.
02:03And to study this, the New Zealand government called many international geologists to conduct a detailed research.
02:10This time, the goal was to prove this large submerged landmass to be a continent.
02:15After this, all these researchers conducted a study together,
02:19and when the results were revealed to the public, no one believed it.
02:23It was revealed that surprisingly, the composition of the rocks of the land hidden below New Zealand
02:30was more matching to the composition of a continent than any oceanic bed.
02:35Meaning, the bottom of the ocean is mostly made up of volcanic basalt rocks,
02:39and the continents are mainly made up of granite rocks.
02:42Yet, the submerged landmass found below New Zealand in the ocean was made up of landmass continents like granite rocks.
02:50Meaning, possibly, the landmass submerged below New Zealand could have been a 8th continent.
02:57Even possibly, it could have been a part of the Pangaea supercontinent at some point.
03:02And that's why the name of this landmass hidden below New Zealand became Zealandia.
03:08But friends, let's hold on a little over here.
03:10If this 8th continent was already confirmed in 1982,
03:14then why wasn't it included in our geography books till now?
03:18And why is it unknown in the news for the past 375 years?
03:22Well friends, the thing is, you will only include a map in your books
03:27when there is a precise mapping of its boundaries through the currently accepted method, i.e. satellites.
03:34And this was exactly what was missing in the case of Zealandia.
03:38And that's why after many years of postponing,
03:40in the year 2017, its official satellite mapping was finally started.
03:45The final result came on 12th September 2023,
03:50and the existence of the Zealandia continent was finally confirmed.
03:54So, so far you have understood the story behind this.
03:59But, a major question is still hanging here.
04:02What happened to such a large piece of land that it was completely submerged in water?
04:10That only its tip, New Zealand, is above the sea today, like a country.
04:15Actually, according to geologists, there used to be only one big supercontinent on earth, named Pangaea.
04:21But due to the tectonic activities that were going on about 200 million years ago,
04:25this supercontinent split into two new continents, Laurasia and Gondwana.
04:30Now, from this, Laurasia shifted towards the north,
04:33and moving forward, it split into northern continents like Asia, Europe and America.
04:38And Gondwana went towards the south, which again formed all the southern continents.
04:43From these southern continents, about 170 million years ago, Africa separated from Gondwana.
04:50And then came the turn of Antarctica and Australia.
04:53And from this, finally, about 40 million years ago, when the Indian subcontinent also separated,
04:59then all the modern-day continents were able to come to their current positions.
05:05Except, something was just missing till here.
05:08At that time, the most important link was missing from all these geologists.
05:13In their theory of becoming continents from this supercontinent,
05:16they only included the continents that were visible above the sea.
05:20Whereas, what actually happened was that along with Australia,
05:23another landmass separated from Gondwana, which the scientists did not account for.
05:28And that landmass was Zealandia.
05:31But, over here, unfortunately, immediately after the separation, it sank into the water.
05:35And in the beginning, Zealandia was present on the boundary of the Indo-Australian and Pacific plates.
05:40But at that time, there were so many tectonic activities,
05:43that both these plates were rapidly moving away from each other.
05:47And this caused the Zealandia continent, which was present above these plates,
05:51to sink into the sea about 50-35 million years ago.
05:56That means, in the historical time scale,
05:58even after the extinction of dinosaurs, at least 15 million years later,
06:02this continent was completely above the sea.
06:05In fact, this has been scientifically proved.
06:07When the scientists were studying this Zealandia,
06:10that why did it sink,
06:11they saw some weird patterns at the bottom of the sea.
06:15Basically, below Zealandia, they saw that there were some structures like this,
06:20which are made of volcanic basalt rocks.
06:23Now, this only happens when two tectonic plates move away from each other,
06:28and molten magma comes out of the crack between them.
06:32Now, in this case, since that magma,
06:33as soon as it aligns and comes up, it comes in contact with the cold water of the sea,
06:38so naturally, it solidifies and forms a stripe like this.
06:42Now, further, since this molten magma has been coming out for thousands of years,
06:46so every new stripe that is formed, comes out like this,
06:50and starts to shrink to the sides.
06:52And the Zealandia landmass sitting above these patterns is sinking.
06:56So now friends, you know why we don't see Zealandia above the sea.
07:02But then again, this is just half answer.
07:04This huge landmass, even if it is visible in front of our eyes,
07:08it didn't happen just because it was below the continental sea.
07:11There is another reason behind it not being visible,
07:13which is our ignorance.
07:15Modern science enthusiasts like us,
07:17never paid attention to a fundamental anomaly of the earth.
07:21Have you ever wondered why almost all the continents of the earth are in the Northern Hemisphere?
07:26Well, this question may be new for us,
07:28but this is actually a question of the 17th century,
07:31because of which Australia was discovered in 1606,
07:35and today Zealandia was discovered.
07:37In fact, this is the same reason,
07:38because of which all the news articles are writing about Zealandia,
07:42missing for 375 years.
07:45Actually, in 1492,
07:47when Italian explorer Christopher Columbus reached America in search of India,
07:51and eventually that unknown landmass was colonized by the rest of the European empires,
07:56then suddenly many empires started running to colonize other countries.
08:01Meanwhile, the Dutch Empire, which was also a major colonizer,
08:04realized that apart from landmasses connected to each other like Asia, Europe and Africa,
08:09there could be other landmasses on this earth like America, unknown and scattered.
08:14But where to find it?
08:16Meanwhile, he thought that all these major landmasses,
08:19including the newly discovered America,
08:21why are they all mostly around the Northern Hemisphere of the earth?
08:25To keep the earth balanced,
08:26there should be a major landmass around the Southern Hemisphere as well.
08:31Keeping this assumption in mind,
08:33he named those missing hypothetical landmasses,
08:37Terra Australis,
08:38which in Latin simply meant,
08:40the land of the South.
08:41But one second,
08:42out of the four oceans on the earth,
08:44three big oceans,
08:45i.e. Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean,
08:48were majorly located in the South.
08:50So the question was,
08:51where to start the search for Terra Australis?
08:54Finally, the decision was made,
08:55that the landmasses that he already knew,
08:57i.e. Asia, Europe and Africa,
08:59should be started from their Southern tips.
09:01So with this,
09:02first of all, in 1606,
09:03the Dutch East India Company launched a mission
09:06and sent its two major top-notch explorers and navigators,
09:09Willem Janszoon and Abel Tasman,
09:11to the Southern tip of Asia,
09:13to the South of Indonesia.
09:14First of all, in 1606,
09:16Janszoon went with his small team,
09:18to conduct a preliminary research,
09:20and he found the Australian continent there.
09:23And then,
09:24a few years later,
09:25Tasman was sent,
09:26so that he could map the coastline of the new landmass.
09:31And when this mapping was completed,
09:33the name of this landmass was given,
09:35Australia.
09:37But then,
09:37this was only half of the story.
09:39The whole story is that,
09:40during this mapping,
09:42he also found the 8th continent, Zealandia.
09:45But before he could map it,
09:47to save his life,
09:49in a hurry,
09:50he had to return immediately.
09:52Actually,
09:52when Tasman was moving from Jakarta in Indonesia,
09:54to Mauritius,
09:55and then from Mauritius to Tasmania,
09:58so when he went a little further from there,
10:00he saw an unknown landmass there.
10:02This landmass was today's New Zealand,
10:05which could not only take him to Terra Australis,
10:07but could also take him to another big continent, Zealandia.
10:10Because this New Zealand,
10:11was basically a peak of that same continent,
10:14just like the tip of an iceberg.
10:16But then,
10:17as soon as Tasman and his crew,
10:19reached that landmass,
10:21then suddenly,
10:22the people of the local Maori tribe,
10:24Gati Tumatkakori,
10:26attacked their ship.
10:28And in this attack,
10:29Tasman's 4 crew members were killed.
10:31So to save his and his remaining crew members,
10:34Tasman decided to return immediately,
10:36without stepping foot there.
10:38And then,
10:39when Tasman returned,
10:41he had a violent encounter with the Maori community,
10:44which spread throughout Europe.
10:46And because of this,
10:47for the next 100 years,
10:49no one dared to come here,
10:51until 1769,
10:53when another major colonizer of Europe,
10:55the British Empire,
10:56in an attempt to take over the eastern part of Australia,
10:59made a colony of the nearby New Zealand.
11:02So, in the year 1769,
11:04the British Empire,
11:05to colonize the eastern part of Australia,
11:08sent an experienced explorer of the Royal Navy,
11:10James Cook,
11:11to map the area.
11:12Meanwhile,
11:13James Cook,
11:14mapped the nearby New Zealand as well.
11:17And after years of violent clashes,
11:19with the local tribes,
11:20finally,
11:21the eastern part of Australia and New Zealand,
11:23both became British colonies.
11:25Now, what's weird is that,
11:26for the next almost 100 years,
11:28despite ruling New Zealand,
11:30the British never realized,
11:32that beneath their feet,
11:33was actually a whole continent.
11:35And then in the year 1840,
11:37when New Zealand was freed from the British,
11:39and its newly formed government,
11:41a Scottish naturalist,
11:42James Hector,
11:43was called to make a detailed map of his country.
11:45That's when he found out,
11:47that New Zealand is many times bigger than it looks.
11:50So big,
11:51that it can become a whole continent on its own.
11:54Now,
11:55I know,
11:56you must be thinking,
11:57that just on the basis of rocks,
11:58composition,
11:59and size,
12:00how can we call New Zealand a continent?
12:03After all,
12:04our Sayadri mountains,
12:05are also made of basalt rocks,
12:07like an ocean bed,
12:08instead of continental granite rocks.
12:10So,
12:11with this logic,
12:12we should also declare our Sayadri mountains,
12:14as oceanic floor.
12:15So,
12:16it's not like,
12:17to classify any landmass,
12:19many factors are considered.
12:21Out of which,
12:22at least,
12:23these 4 factors should be there.
12:25First,
12:26as we discussed previously,
12:27its composition.
12:28Second,
12:29in comparison to the sea bed,
12:30its elevation,
12:31or simply,
12:32its height,
12:33should always be above the average depth of the sea bed.
12:37Third,
12:38its sheer size and area.
12:39And lastly,
12:40it should have its own tectonic plate.
12:43Now,
12:44in the case of Zealandia,
12:45we have already discussed the first factor,
12:47that it is present.
12:48In the case of elevation,
12:49it is about 1100 meters above the average depth of the South Pacific Ocean,
12:53that is,
12:54almost as high as our Sayadri mountains.
12:56Then,
12:57in terms of size and area,
12:58it is approximately 4.9 million square kilometers,
13:02which makes it as big as the Australian continent.
13:05And last,
13:06but not the least,
13:07it also has its own tectonic plate,
13:10called Zealandia Plate,
13:12also known as Teriu Amaui Plate,
13:14which is completely different from its surrounding Pacific Plate and Australian Plate.
13:17Remember,
13:18I told you that the Zealandia landmass is falling below the magma?
13:22Well,
13:23that landmass is actually the Zealandia tectonic plate.
13:26That is,
13:27all in all,
13:28in every way,
13:29Zealandia is a continent.
13:31And New Zealand,
13:32is just a small peak of that continent.
13:35Now,
13:36despite this scientific definition,
13:38accepting it from somewhere,
13:40seems a little weird, right?
13:42Confusion is being created,
13:43because how can Zealandia,
13:45which is submerged in water,
13:46be a continent?
13:47Because our common belief is that
13:49continent means a large landmass visible above the water.
13:53But friends,
13:54in science,
13:55as you already know,
13:56many times,
13:57definitions are very blurred.
13:58We cannot define anything exactly.
14:02Like,
14:03let's take humans.
14:04In our case,
14:05we can describe our physical features,
14:07but we cannot completely define a human being.
14:10Because some aspects of any two individuals,
14:13like their behavior,
14:14emotional state,
14:15perspectives,
14:16can never be the same.
14:18So no matter how many definitions you put on a person,
14:22you still won't be able to completely define him.
14:25And the same situation is happening here
14:27while calling Zealandia a continent.
14:29Because we cannot pinpoint and define continents exactly.
14:33When we talk about elevation,
14:35it is not properly defined
14:36how much height from the ocean bed
14:39a landmass is called a continent.
14:41What if Zealandia was only 1 cm above the ocean bed?
14:45Even then,
14:46it could be declared a continent.
14:48Just based on other factors?
14:50Well,
14:51I personally think
14:52that to avoid such confusing definitions,
14:54instead of putting multiple definitions under one term,
14:58maybe for such anomalies,
15:00we should derive a separate term.
15:02Like for example,
15:03as was done with Pluto.
15:04Pluto was originally a planet,
15:06but then it was found that it was not behaving like a planet,
15:09so it was made an asteroid.
15:11But then,
15:12when it was found that it did not behave like an asteroid,
15:15then finally,
15:16a new category was made for it
15:18called Dwarf Planets.
15:20So that if such objects are found,
15:22which neither properly fall in the category of planets,
15:24nor in the category of proper asteroids,
15:27they can be put in this category.
15:30So,
15:31in the same way,
15:32we have coined a new word for Zealandia.
15:35And in the same way,
15:36the new continents that are being mapped,
15:39like Mauritius,
15:40Beringia,
15:41Doggerland,
15:42can also be categorized under this word.
15:45Even though,
15:46for now,
15:47they are just some submerged invisible continents.
15:50But,
15:51you know friends,
15:52there is one more interesting thing
15:53that is happening with these submerged continents
15:55in the ocean below.
15:57About 6900 km away from Zealandia,
16:00there is an invisible barrier.
16:02And because of this invisible barrier,
16:04the diversity of animals,
16:06which look completely different
16:08in the range of just 35 km from each other.
16:11Well,
16:12how is this possible?
16:13Because it defies all the laws of evolution.
16:16Well,
16:17what is the secret behind this mystery?
16:19I have already decoded it in this video,
16:21which you can click and watch.
16:23It is a very interesting video.
16:24For now,
16:25if you have learned anything new from this video,
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16:34See you next time.
16:35As always,
16:36stay curious, keep learning and keep growing.
16:37Jai Hind!