Is this the lost continent ?

Discussion in 'Earth Science' started by dragon0788, May 10, 2013.

  1. dragon0788 Registered Member

    Messages:
    11
    A group of Brazilian and Japanese scientists working on the South Atlantic seabed have found continental rocks that could be remains of the so-called lost continent.

    [video=youtube;06Snlm7dlr8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Snlm7dlr8[/video]
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Snlm7dlr8
     
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  3. Buddha12 Valued Senior Member

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    A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with up to seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.[1]

    In geology, continents are described by means of tectonic plates. Plate tectonics is the process and study of the movement, collision and division of continents, earlier known as continental drift.


    Conventionally, "continents are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, ideally separated by expanses of water."[2] Many of the seven most commonly recognized continents identified by convention are not discrete landmasses separated by water.

    http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...-IHADw&usg=AFQjCNGrWHtxxzFD0mIvmSFy1h2OdxXLyg


    So by looking at the definition of continent we see that water must separate them and seeing this rock formation is underwater I would doubt it could be classified as a continent.
     
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  5. Hipparchia Registered Senior Member

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    aren't you looking at the popular and the geographical definition and ignoring the geological one? That seems to define continents on the basis of their rock types. On that basis this could be considered, at least, a continental fragment.
     
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  7. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    11,888
    What do you mean by 'the' lost continent? This may be a piece of contenintal crust from when South Americal separated from Africa 150 million year ago.
     
  8. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    12,451
    Exactly. WHAT lost continent? The narrator in the video implies there is widely acknowledged to be a "lost continent". But is there? I've never heard of this before and a quick web search throws up no references to one, other than in fictional films! There is weak attempt to drag in the legend of Atlantis - but this is not exactly an accepted scientific theory.

    It rather looks as if the makers of this clip are too sensationalist to be content with telling the real story, which appears to be the discovery of allegedly continental crust, far below the surface of the ocean in an area otherwise filled with the products of seafloor spreading from the mid-Atlantic ridge. Which certainly does seem to require a bit of explanation, but for the journalists this evidently wasn't enough: they simply could not pass up an opportunity to recycle a clichéd load of old cobblers about Atlantis. How depressing.
     
  9. KitemanSA Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    624
    Besides, everyone knows that Atlantis was Doggerland.

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