Earth’s Long Lost 8th Continent Revealed by Scientists

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Dec 11, 2024 9:25 PM ET

Ever sit up late at night, dazed and pondering about ancient earth? Like, what was it like when the dinosaurs roamed the world? And, most importantly, with the tectonic shifting of the continents, were there waves that existed, peeling off in perfection with nobody around, and lost in time?

Sounds like a fun Friday evening.

Well, scientists recently made a discovery, complementing those twilight reveries, with a discovery and mapping of earth’s long lost eight continent, Zealandia. The continent, as you might have guessed, existed where modern-day New Zealand is now. And it spanned far beyond what we now today as Nez Zealand – 95% more landmass – and existed 40 million years ago and beyond.

Think of the surfing potential…if only it hadn’t sunk beneath the ocean.

Anyway, here’s the layman’s explanation of the study:

“To support investigations of the Zealandia continent, we dredged rock samples from the seabed of the Fairway Ridge, Coral Sea. Basalts, sandstones, and pebbles from the sandstones were analyzed and dated. The sandstones are Late Cretaceous (∼95 million years old) and contain Early Cretaceous (130–110-million-year-old) granite and volcanic pebbles.

“The basalts are Eocene (∼40 million years old). We have used these results, along with regional magnetic anomaly data, and information from other studies to make a map of the undersea geology of North Zealandia. Onland and offshore reconnaissance geological mapping of the entire 5 Mkm2 Zealandia continent is now complete.”

Judging by the new map from the study, it looks like a majority of the lost continent was in the north, which is the more wave-rich region today. However, with Zealandia still above water, that would lead to some serious blockage for Australia’s entire east coast, including Queensland and New South Wales. If it was still here today, spots like Snapper Rocks and Byron Bay likely wouldn’t exist.

But imagine the surf potential for Zealandia. The things the dinosaurs might’ve seen…

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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