Mauritia, The Lost Continent!
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 7:42 pm
The lost continent of Mauritia likely spanned a great swathe of the Indian Ocean
before it was torn apart by indomitable geologic forces and plunged into the sea.
Now, a good chunk of it may have been found. In 2015, researchers visited the
island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar, to study volcanic rocks. While there,
they unearthed something unexpected. Embedded in the rocks were ancient crystals,
dated up to three billion years old—300 times older than the island’s young volcanic
surface. Rocks this old come from Earth’s continents, but there aren’t any continents
around Mauritius. It's surrounded by boundless sea in all directions. There was just
one place left for the researchers to look—down. Their findings, published in the
journal Nature Communications, suggest that the curious crystals came from a long-
forgotten place buried well beneath the island.
The lost continent of Mauritia likely spanned a great swathe of the Indian Ocean
before it was torn apart by indomitable geologic forces and plunged into the sea.
Now, a good chunk of it may have been found. In 2015, researchers visited the
island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar, to study volcanic rocks. While there,
they unearthed something unexpected. Embedded in the rocks were ancient crystals,
dated up to three billion years old—300 times older than the island’s young volcanic
surface. Rocks this old come from Earth’s continents, but there aren’t any continents
around Mauritius. It's surrounded by boundless sea in all directions. There was just
one place left for the researchers to look—down. Their findings, published in the
journal Nature Communications, suggest that the curious crystals came from a long-
forgotten place buried well beneath the island.
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before it was torn apart by indomitable geologic forces and plunged into the sea.
Now, a good chunk of it may have been found. In 2015, researchers visited the
island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar, to study volcanic rocks. While there,
they unearthed something unexpected. Embedded in the rocks were ancient crystals,
dated up to three billion years old—300 times older than the island’s young volcanic
surface. Rocks this old come from Earth’s continents, but there aren’t any continents
around Mauritius. It's surrounded by boundless sea in all directions. There was just
one place left for the researchers to look—down. Their findings, published in the
journal Nature Communications, suggest that the curious crystals came from a long-
forgotten place buried well beneath the island.
The lost continent of Mauritia likely spanned a great swathe of the Indian Ocean
before it was torn apart by indomitable geologic forces and plunged into the sea.
Now, a good chunk of it may have been found. In 2015, researchers visited the
island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar, to study volcanic rocks. While there,
they unearthed something unexpected. Embedded in the rocks were ancient crystals,
dated up to three billion years old—300 times older than the island’s young volcanic
surface. Rocks this old come from Earth’s continents, but there aren’t any continents
around Mauritius. It's surrounded by boundless sea in all directions. There was just
one place left for the researchers to look—down. Their findings, published in the
journal Nature Communications, suggest that the curious crystals came from a long-
forgotten place buried well beneath the island.
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