Earth now has eight continents with "Zealandia"

[Wallenburg]

Cool. I wasn't aware this was a theory being explored.

[Great Minarchistan]

This isn't a continent and Pluto is still a planet.

Agreed

[Neanderthaland]

And a tomato is a vegetable.

And tartar sauce isn't made of real Tartars.

Don't get me started on Guacamole.

Those poor Spanish Guaca Moles...

[Cetacea]

Zealandia's been around for a long time I remember doing Alt-History discussions on a dryland Zealandia 5 years ago. It would have entirely hanged the population dynamics of the Pacific and made for much more contact between Australia and NZ.

But the main thing with Zealandia is that though it is almost entirely wet and has been seabed for millennia, it does allow New zealand to expand its EEC to cover a ridiculously huge area due to the 200 nmi off the continental shelf rule. New Zealand EEC is something like 20 times its land area.

of course Australia and New Caledonia may not be happy about that...

[Jamzmania]

Zealandia is a really stupid name.

[New haven america]

Didn't they already do this a while ago?

[Napkiraly]

Britain should annex it. This is how we'll get the Empire rebooted.

[Crockerland]

If you want to change the definition of a continent to be according to tectonic plates, then there are still 7 continents, with Eurasia being one.

There would be around 15...

[Costa Fierro]

Zealandia's been around for a long time I remember doing Alt-History discussions on a dryland Zealandia 5 years ago. It would have entirely hanged the population dynamics of the Pacific and made for much more contact between Australia and NZ.

But the main thing with Zealandia is that though it is almost entirely wet and has been seabed for millennia, it does allow New zealand to expand its EEC to cover a ridiculously huge area due to the 200 nmi off the continental shelf rule. New Zealand EEC is something like 20 times its land area.

of course Australia and New Caledonia may not be happy about that...

And we don't have the navy that can protect said EEZ, because the attrition rate in the navy is high enough that there's never enough personnel to crew all of our naval vessels.

[Aclion]

Calling it now, dwarf continent.

[Cetacea]

Zealandia's been around for a long time I remember doing Alt-History discussions on a dryland Zealandia 5 years ago. It would have entirely hanged the population dynamics of the Pacific and made for much more contact between Australia and NZ.

But the main thing with Zealandia is that though it is almost entirely wet and has been seabed for millennia, it does allow New zealand to expand its EEC to cover a ridiculously huge area due to the 200 nmi off the continental shelf rule. New Zealand EEC is something like 20 times its land area.

of course Australia and New Caledonia may not be happy about that...

And we don't have the navy that can protect said EEZ, because the attrition rate in the navy is high enough that there's never enough personnel to crew all of our naval vessels.

yeah and thats one reason why I've long advocated that the NZ arm forces should be reorganised to concentrate exclusively on Coast Guard and Engineering services with SAS having the combat role. The country is too small to field an effective Airforce or Ground defence and instead needs to concentrate on its maritime response and is relief/peacekeeping role (hence Engineers).

[USS Monitor]

The Earth's tectonic plates and the definition of separate continents are related, but not identical. Just as people refer to Europe and Asia as two separate continents although they are under one plate (Eurasia), in the end this new geological data will only change things in geology-related discussions and topics. Geographically, the continent will surely remain ''Oceania'', ''Australia and that stuff around it'', or ''The Pacific'', whichever one you prefer.

If you want to change the definition of a continent to be according to tectonic plates, then there are still 7 continents, with Eurasia being one.

Eurasia should be counted as one anyway.

[Costa Fierro]

yeah and thats one reason why I've long advocated that the NZ arm forces should be reorganised to concentrate exclusively on Coast Guard and Engineering services with SAS having the combat role. The country is too small to field an effective Airforce or Ground defence and instead needs to concentrate on its maritime response and is relief/peacekeeping role (hence Engineers).

Peacekeepers are more than just support forces. They actually need properly trained soldiers to do the actual peacekeeping.

[Greed and Death]

In other news New Zealand scientist have demoted Australia to sub continent.

[Tulov]

Change the name to "Zeal".

But the future refused to change.

[Gauthier]

Oh shit, goddamn scientists are about to discover R'lyeh.

[Dytarma]

Huh, who would a thunk it?

[Cetacea]

yeah and thats one reason why I've long advocated that the NZ arm forces should be reorganised to concentrate exclusively on Coast Guard and Engineering services with SAS having the combat role. The country is too small to field an effective Airforce or Ground defence and instead needs to concentrate on its maritime response and is relief/peacekeeping role (hence Engineers).

Peacekeepers are more than just support forces. They actually need properly trained soldiers to do the actual peacekeeping.

yes and they will still be trained accordingly within the coastguard/engineer structure. Its still a military force just with a focussed budget and command.

[The Empire of Pretantia]

Oh shit, goddamn scientists are about to discover R'lyeh.

R'Lyeh is located around the Pacific Pole of Inaccessability.

[Utceforp]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-continent-zealandia_us_58a793bfe4b07602ad54e061

Hail, Zealandia! It’s not the lost city of Atlantis, but scientists say they’re convinced they have discovered the planet’s eighth continent sprawling underwater beneath New Zealand.

Australia and adjacent New Zealand have always been considered the continent of Australia. But now, researchers have found that New Zealand rests on a separate 1.8 million-square-mile continental crust, rather than oceanic crust.

The continent, dubbed Zealandia, also includes New Caledonia and other islands and territories in that section of the southwest Pacific Ocean, according to a paper published this week by the Geological Society of America. It’s about two-thirds the size of the country of Australia, and 94 percent is underwater.

“Its isolation from Australia and large area support its definition as a continent—Zealandia,” wrote researchers from universities in Caledonia, Australia and New Zealand.

“The identification of Zealandia as a geological continent, rather than a collection of continental islands, fragments, and slices, more correctly represents the geology of this part of Earth ... [and] provides a fresh context in which to investigate processes of continental rifting, thinning, and breakup,” the authors wrote.

Scientists have postulated for more than a decade that New Zealand and outlying islands comprise a separate continent, or microcontinent. But information demonstrating that Zealandia is a distinctly separate and contiguous mass merits its elevation to the status of continent, they’ve concluded.

Researchers say Zealandia is part of an enormous ancient super-continent — Gondwana or Gondwanaland — that once included Australia and much of the remaining Southern Hemisphere. Gondwana broke apart some 180 million years ago, with some pieces eventually sinking.

Scientists from South Africa this month announced the discovery of what they believe is yet another continent — which they dubbed Maurita —beneath the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. That continent, too, is believed to be a section of Gondwana.

If Zealandia is formally recognized as a continent, it would be the smallest among Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia.

Thoughts?

While it barely meets the definition, it'll be interesting to see how educational curricula need to change to accommodate this if it is a continent.

If we're going for technical accuracy when defining what is and isn't a continent, shouldn't the first step be to end the silliness of Europe and Asia being separate?

[Jamzmania]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-continent-zealandia_us_58a793bfe4b07602ad54e061

Hail, Zealandia! It’s not the lost city of Atlantis, but scientists say they’re convinced they have discovered the planet’s eighth continent sprawling underwater beneath New Zealand.

Australia and adjacent New Zealand have always been considered the continent of Australia. But now, researchers have found that New Zealand rests on a separate 1.8 million-square-mile continental crust, rather than oceanic crust.

The continent, dubbed Zealandia, also includes New Caledonia and other islands and territories in that section of the southwest Pacific Ocean, according to a paper published this week by the Geological Society of America. It’s about two-thirds the size of the country of Australia, and 94 percent is underwater.

“Its isolation from Australia and large area support its definition as a continent—Zealandia,” wrote researchers from universities in Caledonia, Australia and New Zealand.

“The identification of Zealandia as a geological continent, rather than a collection of continental islands, fragments, and slices, more correctly represents the geology of this part of Earth ... [and] provides a fresh context in which to investigate processes of continental rifting, thinning, and breakup,” the authors wrote.

Scientists have postulated for more than a decade that New Zealand and outlying islands comprise a separate continent, or microcontinent. But information demonstrating that Zealandia is a distinctly separate and contiguous mass merits its elevation to the status of continent, they’ve concluded.

Researchers say Zealandia is part of an enormous ancient super-continent — Gondwana or Gondwanaland — that once included Australia and much of the remaining Southern Hemisphere. Gondwana broke apart some 180 million years ago, with some pieces eventually sinking.

Scientists from South Africa this month announced the discovery of what they believe is yet another continent — which they dubbed Maurita —beneath the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. That continent, too, is believed to be a section of Gondwana.

If Zealandia is formally recognized as a continent, it would be the smallest among Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia.

Thoughts?

While it barely meets the definition, it'll be interesting to see how educational curricula need to change to accommodate this if it is a continent.

If we're going for technical accuracy when defining what is and isn't a continent, shouldn't the first step be to end the silliness of Europe and Asia being separate?

Sounds like HERESY.

[Novus America]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-continent-zealandia_us_58a793bfe4b07602ad54e061

Hail, Zealandia! It’s not the lost city of Atlantis, but scientists say they’re convinced they have discovered the planet’s eighth continent sprawling underwater beneath New Zealand.

Australia and adjacent New Zealand have always been considered the continent of Australia. But now, researchers have found that New Zealand rests on a separate 1.8 million-square-mile continental crust, rather than oceanic crust.

The continent, dubbed Zealandia, also includes New Caledonia and other islands and territories in that section of the southwest Pacific Ocean, according to a paper published this week by the Geological Society of America. It’s about two-thirds the size of the country of Australia, and 94 percent is underwater.

“Its isolation from Australia and large area support its definition as a continent—Zealandia,” wrote researchers from universities in Caledonia, Australia and New Zealand.

“The identification of Zealandia as a geological continent, rather than a collection of continental islands, fragments, and slices, more correctly represents the geology of this part of Earth ... [and] provides a fresh context in which to investigate processes of continental rifting, thinning, and breakup,” the authors wrote.

Scientists have postulated for more than a decade that New Zealand and outlying islands comprise a separate continent, or microcontinent. But information demonstrating that Zealandia is a distinctly separate and contiguous mass merits its elevation to the status of continent, they’ve concluded.

Researchers say Zealandia is part of an enormous ancient super-continent — Gondwana or Gondwanaland — that once included Australia and much of the remaining Southern Hemisphere. Gondwana broke apart some 180 million years ago, with some pieces eventually sinking.

Scientists from South Africa this month announced the discovery of what they believe is yet another continent — which they dubbed Maurita —beneath the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. That continent, too, is believed to be a section of Gondwana.

If Zealandia is formally recognized as a continent, it would be the smallest among Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia.

Thoughts?

While it barely meets the definition, it'll be interesting to see how educational curricula need to change to accommodate this if it is a continent.

If we're going for technical accuracy when defining what is and isn't a continent, shouldn't the first step be to end the silliness of Europe and Asia being separate?

No matter what it would not be the 8th continent. Because if we are going geologically Europe and Asia are not seperate. And if we a going politically and culturally it is still part of Australia.

Having this be a continent and Europe be one too makes no real sense.

As someone else pointed out could help New Zealand make a bigger continental shelf claim though.

[Camicon]

If we're going for technical accuracy when defining what is and isn't a continent, shouldn't the first step be to end the silliness of Europe and Asia being separate?

No matter what it would not be the 8th continent. Because if we are going geologically Europe and Asia are not seperate. And if we a going politically and culturally it is still part of Australia.

Having this be a continent and Europe be one too makes no real sense.

As someone else pointed out could help New Zealand make a bigger continental shelf claim though.

I wonder how this will extend their EEZ.

[Novus America]

No matter what it would not be the 8th continent. Because if we are going geologically Europe and Asia are not seperate. And if we a going politically and culturally it is still part of Australia.

Having this be a continent and Europe be one too makes no real sense.

As someone else pointed out could help New Zealand make a bigger continental shelf claim though.

I wonder how this will extend their EEZ.

It will not extend their EEZ, just possibly continental shelf.
EEZ gives you control of all resources. Continental shelf only sea bed ones.

[Samudera Darussalam]

They should change the name, really.

And like those who have pointed above, Asia and Europe barely meets the category to become a separate continent.

The definition of the continent itself is confusing, I guess.