Monday, April 30, 2007

Zealandia


You learn something new every day! Today I learned
that New Zealand is part of a larger area of land
(now mostly submerged below the ocean) that scientists
call Zealandia. It's actually a continent that broke
away from Australia 60-85 million years ago and broke
away from Antarctica 85-130 million years ago. Most of
it then sank below the surface of the ocean except for
the main land mass of the North and South Islands and
several island areas such as New Caledonia, Chatham Island
and Campbell Island. At one time the whole continent was
bigger than India. Not that knowing any of this information
will ever do me any good, but it's nice to know that I can
still learn new stuff every day.

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