New Continent Discovered?

[Zardnaar]

And I live here!!!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39000936

Zealandia 2/3rds the size of Australia. Does this give us territorial claims on Australia though?

 

[Old Hippy]

nevermind

 

[Berzerker]

would it still be a continent if New Zealand was also under water?

I'm a bit curious because geologists are debating the origin of the continents and I'm not always sure what they mean by continents if not for the obvious large land masses or their craton forerunners

can a continent exist as a submerged land mass?

 

[Zardnaar]

would it still be a continent if New Zealand was also under water?

I'm a bit curious because geologists are debating the origin of the continents and I'm not always sure what they mean by continents if not for the obvious large land masses or their craton forerunners

can a continent exist as a submerged land mass?

Well no one ever really made a hard and fast rule over what a continent is.

 

[Kyriakos]

Only lost continent is under the Atlantic, and consists of variating rings of land and sea

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Only lost continent is under the Atlantic, and consists of variating rings of land and sea

I was expecting you would go with Santorini hypothesis.

 

[Kyriakos]

I was expecting you would go with Santorini hypothesis.

Afaik it is argued as pretty certain that Santorini/Thera mostly sunk, following the explosion of the volcano there (which is still active). This possibly leading to tidal waves ruining Crete as well. But there is no space for a full continent there ^^

At least in Plato's "Critias" (which doesn't survive in total), there are parallels between Atlantis and Minoan Crete, but not really to the point it can negate the stated antithetical elements (Atlantis being beyond the pillars of Herakles, in the Atlantic, having a very different landmass form than Crete). Some elements are closer, eg tied to Poseidon (we know that from the Theseus mythic circle), running "hot and cold water".

Of course one could imagine that an unsunk Thera might have been a lot larger as an island (still not as large as Crete), and be some kind of capital of the minoan kingdom. But as far as i know there isn't anything tangible to support that theory.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

I will always defend the Doñana hypothesis which places it in southern Spain. My two main reasons: David Cameron's support it and will probably make a cool movie, and it is near my home!

 

[CavLancer]

This is a continent and Pluto isn't a planet? No. If they want this then we get Pluto back, and then all the experts need to be fired..

 

[EnglishEdward]

would it still be a continent if New Zealand was also under water?

I'm a bit curious because geologists are debating the origin of the continents and I'm not always sure
what they mean by continents if not for the obvious large land masses or their craton forerunners

can a continent exist as a submerged land mass?

For simplicity: on Earth, oceans have a high density volcanic basalt floor (albeit it may be in part covered by turbidites);
while continents have lower density more silica rich rocks (e.g. granite, metamorphic or sedimentary rocks).

The crust of Zealandia is of a continental type, hence it may be regarded as a predominantly submerged continent.

 

[timtofly]

Only lost continent is under the Atlantic, and consists of variating rings of land and sea

That would still be Europe, their Calex.

The "sunken" continent under New Zealand would put New Zealand at a higher altitude is about the only difference in the span of continental life spans.

 

[Berzerker]

according to the myth, Atlantis was destroyed 9000 years before Solon (~600 BC).

thats when seas were rising so I imagine if Atlantis did exist its under water...like the Garden of Eden

 

[Nexlev]

For simplicity: on Earth, oceans have a high density volcanic basalt floor (albeit it may be in part covered by turbidites);
while continents have lower density more silica rich rocks (e.g. granite, metamorphic or sedimentary rocks).

The crust of Zealandia is of a continental type, hence it may be regarded as a predominantly submerged continent.

You sound like someone who knows what he's talking about.

Do you know if the Rockall plateau is one or the other?

That's my theory. Atlantis is west of Ireland. Rock on Rockall, you'll never fall. (please be gentle and don't ruin it for me)

 

[Thorgalaeg]

according to the myth, Atlantis was destroyed 9000 years before Solon (~600 BC).

thats when seas were rising so I imagine if Atlantis did exist its under water...like the Garden of Eden

Wasnt it the current Iraq?

Genesis, chapter 2, verse 10-14:

A river flowed from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided to make four streams.
The first is named the Pishon, and this winds all through the land of Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this country is pure; bdellium and cornelian stone are found there. The second river is named the Gihon, and this winds all through the land of Cush. The third river is named the Tigris, and this flows to the east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

 

[Kyriakos]

Wasn't the Atlantic ocean actually named after the Atlantis story? Atlas* was argued in Critias to be the king's eponym in Atlantis (like Minos was what all kings of Crete were titled as).

*obviously another Atlas, not the titan holding the sky on his shoulder

 

[Thorgalaeg]

May be the other way around. Atlantis named after the Atlantic Ocean which is named after Atlas, which is also the name of the Mountains in Morocco around Gibraltar Srait. Who knows who comes from who. In any case they all are obviously interconnected.

 

[Kyriakos]

Iirc "Atlantic" wasn't the ancient greek name (or at least the first such) for the ocean west of the pillars of Herakles. I might be wrong, though. Iirc some 6th century BC maps showed three continents (Europe, Libya, Asia) surrounded by one ocean. Also (again not sure) maybe that ocean was just called "Oceanos" (ie, Ocean, the son of Gaia and something, probably either Ouranos or any of her firstborn)*.

*re that last part, i just checked in Hesiod's Theogonia, and Oceanos was born by Gaia, fathered by Ouranos (himself a much earlier child of Gaia and father also to Cronos -and in a much gorier way to Aphrodite - among loads of other beings, mostly titans).

 

[Thorgalaeg]

So Gaia was the mother of Uranus and then had a son of Uranus? You guys are sick.

Anyway i find curious that Gaia (primordial earth, female) could be mother of the Uranus (primordial sky, male). I thought ancient greeks were machist patriarchal indoeuropeans.

 

[Kyriakos]

So Gaia was the mother of Uranus and then had a son of Uranus? You guys are sick.

Anyway i find curious that Gaia (primordial earth, female) could be mother of the Uranus (primordial sky, male). I thought ancient greeks were machist patriarchal indoeuropeans.

According to the Theogonia: (my translation) "Gaia first gave birth to Ouranos, equal to her* so that he could perfectly cover her/cover her from everywhere"


Re Gaia as the first mother**, well at the time she is the only female deity, so naturally new children will come from her, either by joining a male deity or without such need (as in some cases with Gaia; eg Ouranos doesn't have a father).

Gaia is the first of the created things that can give birth, but isn't the oldest of things in the Theogonia. That order goes: Chaos--- Gaia --- Tartara (Tartarus) --- Eros. Then begin the children of Gaia, along with other stuff, like Erebos (Erebus), Night,and the Night creates Day when she is mixed with Erebos. Then comes Ouranos, and then the Titans, who are named thus because they were trying to flex their bodies inside Gaia where Ouranos pushed them back to cause they were jerks. Later they take revenge, with Cronos (Saturn) castrating Ouranos, and Aphrodite is born out of the sea foam created around the cut genitals of Ouranos - which is why her name is that, it means "risen/rising from the foam".
Then other stuff. And later on the Titanomachia.
It is a great read ^^


*It is not clear if this presents Gaia and Ouranos as flat surfaces, or that they have different shape so are "equal" but the latter is surrounding the former anyway. Moreover, Gaia is the ground/earth itself, full of openings.
** Technically, Chaos also creates some things. Namely Erebos and Night. Those aren't easily tied to gender, though, and neither is Chaos. Well, Night is feminine in greek, and she does give birth to other things following a mix with Erebos, but Erebos (like Chaos) is neutral in greek, neither masculine nor feminine.

 

[timtofly]

Wasnt it the current Iraq?

Genesis, chapter 2, verse 10-14:

A river flowed from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided to make four streams.
The first is named the Pishon, and this winds all through the land of Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this country is pure; bdellium and cornelian stone are found there. The second river is named the Gihon, and this winds all through the land of Cush. The third river is named the Tigris, and this flows to the east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

If the rivers flowed the opposite direction back then, sure.

Curently, they originate in Turkey.

So Gaia was the mother of Uranus and then had a son of Uranus? You guys are sick.

Anyway i find curious that Gaia (primordial earth, female) could be mother of the Uranus (primordial sky, male). I thought ancient greeks were machist patriarchal indoeuropeans.

They stole the story from the Mesopotamians. They changed it since they were the ones who named the Atlantic. Unless there actually was a group of people who met the Greeks who were actually Atlantians. Otherwise they were just known as the Sea People.

Kind of funny after billions of years, they actually thought there was a beginning instead of "Aliens did it."