Earth has eight continents, and world maps should reflect this, geologists say.
The eighth, a lost continent called Zealandia, isn’t a huge landmass that geographers have somehow missed. Rather, only small bits — including New Zealand, New Caledonia and a few other specks of land in the vast Pacific Ocean — are above sea level. The rest of this continent lies beneath the waves, a new study suggests
“I hope Zealandia will now start to appear on world maps which show the other continents,” said Nick Mortimer, a geologist with GNS Science in Dunedin, New Zealand. “There is an extra one, and it is as real as all the others.” [Photos: The World’s Weirdest Geological Formations]
