Zealandia The Continent

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jimjay
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Zealandia The Continent

Post by jimjay » February 18, 2017, 2:00 am

Kiwi's rejoice! You have your own continent. (Aussies cue up the sheep jokes....)

OK so since 1995 the phrase "Zealandia" has been around, but this week a paper was published by geologists that gets into exactly why Zealandia should now be considered a separate continent in it's own right.

https://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/arc ... 321A.1.htm

I give you the first consideration they list:
Zealandia as a Continent

New Zealand and New Caledonia are large, isolated islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean. They have never been regarded as part of the Australian continent, although the geographic term Australasia often is used for the collective land and islands of the southwest Pacific region. In the following sections, we summarize the four key attributes of continents and assess how Zealandia meets these criteria.
Elevation

Continents and their continental shelves vary in height but are always elevated relative to oceanic crust (Cogley, 1984). The elevation is a function of many features, fundamentally lithosphere density and thickness, as well as plate tectonics (e.g., Kearey et al., 2009). The existence of positive bathymetric features north and south of New Zealand has been known for more than a century (Farquhar, 1906). The accuracy and precision of seafloor mapping have improved greatly over the past decades (Brodie, 1964; Smith and Sandwell, 1997; Stagpoole, 2002) and a deliberately chosen color ramp on a satellite gravity-derived bathymetry map provides an excellent visualization of the extent of continental crust (Fig. 2). The approximate edge of Zealandia can be placed where the oceanic abyssal plains meet the base of the continental slope, at water depths between 2500 and 4000 m below sea level. The precise position of the foot of the continental slope around Zealandia was established during numerous surveys in support of New Zealand’s Law of the Sea submission (Wood et al., 2003; UNCLOS, 2008).

Zealandia is everywhere substantially elevated above the surrounding oceanic crust. The main difference with other continents is that it has much wider and deeper continental shelves than is usually the case (Fig. 1). Zealandia has a modal elevation of ~−1100 m (Cogley, 1984) and is ~94% submerged below current sea level. The highest point of Zealandia is Aoraki–Mount Cook at 3724 m.
A Kiwi walks into his bedroom carrying a sheep in his arms and says: "Darling, this is the pig I have sex with when you have a headache." His girlfriend is lying in bed and replies: "I think you'll find that's not a pig but a sheep, you idiot." The man says: " Shut up, I wasn't talking to you."
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JMT42
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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by JMT42 » February 18, 2017, 9:10 am

You can say the same about any island

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old timer
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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by old timer » February 18, 2017, 12:34 pm

What's the population (human) of Zealandia, out of curiosity?

OT...... \:D/

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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by jimjay » February 18, 2017, 9:54 pm

old timer wrote:What's the population (human) of Zealandia, out of curiosity?

OT...... \:D/
Glad you asked OT!

4.471 million (2013) Humans

Sheep: about 27.6 million
The country has the highest density of sheep per unit area in the world. For 130 years, sheep farming was the country's most important agricultural industry, but it was overtaken by dairy farming in 1987. Sheep numbers peaked in New Zealand in 1982 to 70 million and then dropped to about 27.6 million.

If sea levels decline Zealandia could gain up to 94% more land.

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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by jimjay » February 19, 2017, 2:22 am

From the Post Gondwana Dept.

More news of the 8th continent.

http://www.livescience.com/57927-new-ze ... inent.html
Now, the movement of the Australian plate is cutting Zealandia in two, which should break the continent in half in tens of millions of years, Mortimer said.

While the new findings are unlikely to change seismological maps or hazard assessments around New Zealand, "I think it will focus minds; it's just a more correct depiction of the geology and tectonics of this corner of the planet," Mortimer said.

From a geological perspective, defining Zealandia as a continent makes sense, said Bruce Luyendyk, a professor emeritus in geology at the Univeristy of California at Santa Barbara, who first coined the term "Zealandia."

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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by old timer » February 19, 2017, 12:51 pm

jimjay wrote:
old timer wrote:What's the population (human) of Zealandia, out of curiosity?

OT...... \:D/
Glad you asked OT!

4.471 million (2013) Humans

Sheep: about 27.6 million
The country has the highest density of sheep per unit area in the world. For 130 years, sheep farming was the country's most important agricultural industry, but it was overtaken by dairy farming in 1987. Sheep numbers peaked in New Zealand in 1982 to 70 million and then dropped to about 27.6 million.

If sea levels decline Zealandia could gain up to 94% more land.
Blimey, that's much more people than I expected. So at the moment they have NZ passports? Can't say I'd ever heard of this place before.
As for the sea levels declining in future, your speculation of 94% more land is not in line with global warming alarmists predictions but probably as accurate.

OT............. \:D/

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maaka
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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by maaka » February 20, 2017, 5:41 am

Bummer....seeming Norfolk Island, and Lord Howe Island are located within Zealandia, and those islands are governed by our neighbours Australia, then maybe we have to share Zealandia..

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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by mickojak » February 20, 2017, 5:47 am

maaka wrote:then maybe we have to share Zealandia..
You may have to share your sheep too, Maaka. :lol: :lol:

There will be riots all over your country. :lol: :lol:
Mick

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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by Barney » February 20, 2017, 6:54 am

Status Quo remains
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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by Kiwidad3 » February 20, 2017, 9:30 am

Looks more like an Australian standing behind that sheep

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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by mickojak » February 20, 2017, 9:58 am

Kiwidad3 wrote:Looks more like an Australian standing behind that sheep
Nope, definitely KIWI shoes & underpants. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Re: Zealandia The Continent

Post by Kiwidad3 » February 20, 2017, 10:31 am

Nope, Kiwi would at least wear his best gumboots :-"

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