The Argoland continent separated from Australia 155 million years ago – and has since disappeared. But he left his mark.
Utrecht – Earth was very different 200 million years ago than it is today. Instead of today’s continents, there was a supercontinent called Pangea, which shifted over time due to the movement of tectonic plates. About 155 million years ago, a 5,000-kilometer-long continent broke off in Western Australia. Since then, this land named “Argoland” was lost.
It is certain that part of Australia has broken away. Research knows this because part of the continent left a gap: deep in the ocean lies a hidden basin called the Argo Abyssal Plain. Deep ocean plains typically run along continental margins, which is why Argo shows that the deep ocean plain is missing part of the continent. But where did Arkoland disappear to? Researchers have been searching for the lost continent for years – and now apparently they’ve found it.
Researchers Solve Arcoland Mystery: The Vanished Continent Still Exists
The structure of the seafloor showed that the vanished continent must have drifted northwest, according to geologists Eldert Advokat and Douay van Hinzbergen from the University of Utrecht. So they assumed it was around where the islands of Southeast Asia are today. However, there is no large, continuous continent there – so where did Argoland disappear 155 million years ago?
To solve the puzzle, the two geographers looked at Southeast Asian islands. “We’re actually dealing with islands of information, which is why our research took so long,” explains one advocate. Notice His university. “We spent seven years putting the puzzle together.” Eventually, the research duo came to an answer: Arkoland is fragmented, but still exists. “Otherwise we have a big scientific problem,” the research team insists.
Continents shift: Argoland disappears, and other continents break in two
The situation in Southeast Asia is very different from Africa or South America, for example, where a continent is broken into two parts. “Argoland broke into many pieces. “This blocked our view of the continent’s journey,” explains Advocate. The researchers realized that the pieces arrived at their current locations at the same time – which allowed them to reconstruct how they were once connected to each other. The small fissures and fragments created a collage: Argoland is now Indonesia and Large areas of Myanmar are hidden under green forests.
According to the researchers, Argoland’s fragmentation is typical of a subcontinent: Argoland was never a single, clearly defined and continuous continent, but rather subcontinental fragments separated by ocean basins. In this respect, Argoland is similar to the vanished continent of the Greater Adriatic, which is now completely submerged in the Earth’s crust, or in Zealandia, the mostly submerged continent to the east of Australia. “The fragmentation of Argoland began about 300 million years ago,” says van Hinsburgen.
Research results of two geologists In Special Issue Gondwana Research Published. (tab)
. “Amateur alcohol specialist. Reader. Hardcore introvert. Freelance explorer.”