Incredible map unearths mystery of Earth’s missing continent discovered after nearly 400 years

An incredible mapping effort has revealed the mystery of what had until recently been Earth's missing continent.

Zealandia was only recognised as Earth's eighth continent back in 2017, and part of the reason we didn't know very much about it for a long time is because most of it is underwater.

It's thought that about 23 million years ago the entire continent was underwater, but these days a little bit of it pokes up above sea level largely in the form of New Zealand.

However, it went from being the world's last discovered continent to the world's first fully mapped continent and that's partly because it's been so hidden away.

You see, every continent has some underwater bits in addition to the landmass which we live upon and these are the most tricky parts to map out and gain a full picture of.

Welcome to Zealandia! (Nick Mortimer/GNS Science)

However, in the case of Zealandia, since mapping it out was largely an underwater job it has been completely discovered.

A study from 2023 was the final piece of the puzzle in putting it all together and now there's no continent with more mysteries uncovered than Zealandia.

Sadly for those hoping to see all the sights that Zealandia has to offer, about 95 percent of it is underwater and it's taken experts quite a long time to map it all out.

New Zealand research institute GNS Science announced the discovery of the eighth continent Zealandia, Te Riu-a-Māui in the Māori dialect, which was once thought to have been part of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, before it pulled away about 105 million years ago for reasons we don't entirely understand.

As Zealandia began to pull away it started to sink beneath the lapping waves of the ocean, resulting in much of the continent going underwater and never resurfacing.

Zealandia is thought to have once belonged to a supercontinent called Gondwana before pulling away (GNS Science)

Some have argued that because it's largely underwater Zealandia isn't really a proper continent, but scientist Nick Mortimer of GNS Science begs to differ.

Mortimer argued that the definition of a continent doesn't have to be all about how much of it is above sea level.

Instead the expert said that it is Zealandia's continental crust which makes it fit that auspicious definition.

His team published a paper showing how they mapped out the continent as they gathered rock samples and used them to mark out what Zealandia was made of, as well as get an idea of the geology of this somewhat soggy landmass.

As with the wonders of the world there's still much more to discover about Zealandia, but now we know the true extent of this missing continent and how it formed in the first place.

The more we learn about it the more we'll know about how it came to be, as it's not every day a whole continent snaps off and starts sinking.