Scientists have discovered a lost continent that formed 60 million years ago, deep beneath the southern coast of the Arctic Ocean.
Researchers from the University of Derby in the UK have accidentally discovered a 250-mile-long patch of land beneath Davis Strait. Canada Greenland and the region Plate tectonic movement.
The newly discovered Davis Strait protocontinent is a block of crust that broke off from a separate continent and formed through “a long period of rifting and seafloor spreading” between Greenland and North America, the researchers explained.
The team suggested that the proto-microcontinent broke away from Greenland after a tectonic shift between Greenland and Canada caused it to split in two about 118 million years ago.
Scientists have discovered a submerged microcontinent between Canada and Greenland that formed 60 million years ago. Pictured: Davis Strait, where the microcontinent was discovered
While reconstructing plate tectonic movements in the region, researchers from the University of Derby discovered a thick layer of crust extending some 250 miles beneath the ocean floor of Davis Strait. Pictured: The Davis Strait proto-microcontinent lies beneath the surface of the Davis Strait.
“The formation of rift valleys and microcontinents is very much an ongoing phenomenon – with every earthquake, the next microcontinent may be breaking off,” Dr Jordan Fathean said. Physics.org.
“The aim of our research is to fully understand its formation and predict its future evolution.”
The researchers identified the new microcontinent by combining crustal thickness data from gravity maps, seismic reflection data, and plate tectonics modelling.
Gravity maps contain information on rock density, depth and distribution of anomalous source rocks.
The research team focused on how the crustal anomaly formed by reconstructing crustal movements that lasted for approximately 30 million years.
The researchers explained that the proto-microcontinent was larger than other microcontinents, reaching a thickness of 11 to 14 miles, and said understanding how it formed is crucial to ongoing science.
The average microcontinent is usually between 3 and 15 miles thick.
The mapping technique traced how the ocean floor has moved over millions of years and identified “isolated terranes of relatively thick continental crust that separated from Greenland during a newly recognized phase.” [the east to west] According to “Extending Along West Greenland” study.
The researchers said Davis Strait is one of the largest concentrations of known fault structures with distinct changes in plate motion, which could help understand how microcontinents form.
Primitive microcontinents are part of the continental lithosphere, which is part of the Earth’s outer shell and is divided into several tectonic plates (slabs of rock).
About 50 to 120 miles below the Earth’s surface there is a layer of semi-liquid rock that heats up, melts, and causes the rock to flow.
This movement pushes the tectonic plates, which over millions of years rub against each other, causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
When this happens, land masses break away from the main continents and form their own primitive microcontinents.
The primitive microcontinents are part of the continental lithosphere, which is part of the Earth’s outer shell and is divided into several tectonic plates (slabs of rock). Pictured: Tectonic plates moving over millions of years
The team used maps made from gravity and seismic reflection data, which uses sound waves to display images of the Earth’s subsurface, to determine the age and location of the fault. Pictured: An overview of tectonic plates in Davis Strait
The initial rift between Canada and Greenland began about 118 million years ago, but it wasn’t until 61 million years ago that the ocean floor began to spread and the channel now known as Davis Strait formed.
About 3 million years later, scientists reported that ocean floor spreading changed from northeast-southwest to north-south, causing the Davis Strait protocontinent to break apart.
This change continued for about 33 million years and only came to a halt when Greenland collided with Ellesmere Island to the north.
The researchers said they hoped their discovery would help understand how other protocontinents around the world formed, such as Jan Mayen, northeast of Iceland, and Gulden Draak Nord, off the coast of Western Australia.
“The formation of rift valleys and microcontinents is really an ongoing phenomenon. Every earthquake could be the break-off of the next microcontinent,” Fethean said. Physics.org.
“The aim of our research is to fully understand its formation and predict its future evolution.”
