Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! are they adding continental fragments together, or should we be reconsidering our concept "continent" see some context: http://earthsky.org/earth/scientists-spy-8th-continent-zealandia?mc_cid=9eaf7665c8&mc_eid=9ca4449e02 This doesn't seem to be the only such claim.
Seems to me the issue is the difference between the geographer's concept of a continent and the geophysicist's. The size of Zealandia, its composition and its tectonic history seem to make it qualify as a continent by the latter's criteria. But it's mostly underwater, like the continental shelves that fringe the established continents. Can you explain what you mean by it not being the only such claim? Do you mean there are other features on the globe that are claimed also to be continents, or do you mean there are other groups claiming Zealandia is a continent?
In this case, the continental plate was so far down (at least 50% deeper than the all other continental plates) that no one had ever discovered it. (In fact, without today's technology, it might have actually been impossible to find.) This is why they assumed that there simply wasn't one, implying that New Zealand was just a collection of islands with no relation to any other island chains, like the Hawaiian.
