February 25, 2013

Scientists think they've found the lost continent of Mauritia, underneath the Indian Ocean.

It was once part of the supercontinent known as Rodinia, which looked like this as it was breaking up 750 million years ago:



See Mauritia in there between what was on its way to becoming India and what became Madagascar? How do they know it's Mauritia? According to the linked article, it has to do with zircon.



It all fits together.

40 comments:

kentuckyliz said...

I blame climate change.

Nonapod said...

Named after the Isle of Mauritius. I recently reread the Patrick O'Brian book The Mauritius Command, which was a fictitious retelling of the events of the Mauritius Campaign during the Napoleonic Wars. Great story, as are all the Aubrey-Maturin books.

edutcher said...

I saw this item earlier.

The Blonde's nephew was a great Pangea buff when he was younger.

I wonder if he know about Rodinia.

Revenant said...

Neat!

YoungHegelian said...

Zircon crystals play a big role in the dating of "deep time" rocks & strata.

How did such a large chunk of land end up under water? Remember that as the "Indian" part of the plate drifted north and smacked into Asia forming the Himalayas, that end of the plate rose. And, like a sofa cushion, when one end of the plate rises the other end sinks.

ampersand said...

I wonder what force caused most of the land mass to end up on the arctic half?

Alex said...

Globular clusters are to blame.

Wince said...

750 million years of incontinence?

chickelit said...

Your link to zircon includes a discussion of metamictization, an ungainly word (but fascinating concept) in need of a simpler term. I called it crystalline rot.

David said...

Time! The forgotten dimension.

KCFleming said...

It's always in the last place you look.

chickelit said...

David said...
Time! The forgotten dimension.

You should enunciate that with Rod Serling's clenched diction.

KCFleming said...

It's like they found the missing sock.

YoungHegelian said...

Hail, Hail Rodinia, land of the free and brave!

YoungHegelian said...

When I look at the map that's posted in the article, the question that springs to mind is: okay, where did the majority of the land mass of modern Africa and Eurasia come from in a "short" 750 million years?

That's a lot of continental mass to add to the total land mass of Rodinia.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Governor Walker is on CSPAN2 right now.

traditionalguy said...

See, see. That is what global warming can do: Continent change. It's all here in a computer model.

Anonymous said...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Anonymous said...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Anonymous said...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Anonymous said...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Anonymous said...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

Anonymous said...

Now posted on Drudge:

"Home Shopping Network busy exclusive rights to dredged Mauritian sands; seeks to control Cubic Zirconia market".

Revenant said...

Why is the submerged land called a "continent", while Mauritius itself is an "isle"?

There is an arbitrary size limit that has to be exceeded before an island becomes a "continent". Mauritius, like Greenland, is too small to make the cut.

Anonymous said...

All Caused by global warming. If only they'd had thought of carbon credits!

Unknown said...

Yeh! Right! This is absolute nonsense.
Wedding Dress

Chip Ahoy said...

Hello. I've just been handed a message from a representative of the ancient underwater microcontinent that was once in the form of a strip of sand and at one time long ago was positioned directly between the present-day subcontinent India and the island Madagascar, a place called Mauritia.

En tiempos muy remotos y un lugar muy lejos, ahora bajo la agua.

The representative is an octopus and the message is in the form of a plate of white rice with squid ink squeezed onto it in a strange but oddly compelling pattern. I asked the representative from Mauritia why it didn't use its own ink it said, "pfffft."

The message reads something like:

"The Shirley Bassey rendition of Goldfinger at the 2013 Academy Award ceremony is the best that we've heard. Her voice is very much improved over earlier recordings, which are grating by comparison. Recording of her mature voice are available for your download, and the inhabitants of Mauritia recommend it."

George M. Spencer said...

It was that war between Freedonia and Sylvania that did the sinking.

AllenS said...

Why didn't Michelle Obama deliver this news?

Nomennovum said...

Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but plate tectonics is kind of a cunt, right?

McTriumph said...

The only important part of the article.....

Prof Torsvik explained: "We need seismic data which can image the structure... this would be the ultimate proof. Or you can drill deep, but that would cost a lot of money."

Seismic or otherwise, it would cost "a lot of money". Not Prof Torsvik's, who's money?

Rusty said...

Why are we finding out about this now?! Now when it's too late to do anything!

Anonymous said...

How soon before Washington D.C. and the surrounding area sinks beneath the waters? Or was that merely a hopeful dream I had last night?

Phil 314 said...

Exclusive footage of the discovery

Astro said...

Nanopod - agree completely about O'Brian.

Shirley Bassey singing 'Goldfinger' was one of the few moments of the Oscars I saw. I noticed that she missed her cue to start, but the musicians did a great job of covering for her.

It seems like hyperbole to describe a tiny strip of land as a continent, or even as a microcontinent.

ricpic said...

What kind of facacta map fails to show the lost continent of Brooklyn?

Michael The Magnificent said...

Perhaps there were too many people on it, and it capsized?

Methadras said...

I blame plate tectonics. Something not even the leftists can stop. Oh, that and the warmth of the sun that our atmosphere absorbs.

Eventually plate tectonics will stop, when that happens, whatever is left on earth can then blame George Bush.

Phil 314 said...

I blame plate tectonics.

I blame George Bush

HT to James Taranto

Diomedes said...

So now that they've finally found a lost continent linking India and Madagascar, they're unwilling to name it Lemuria? For shame!!