Scientists have confirmed the existence of a "lost continent" under the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius that was left-over after the break-up of the supercontinent, Gondwana, which started about 200 million years ago.
"We are studying the break-up process of the continents, in order to understand the geological history of the planet," said Professor Lewis Ashwal from University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
By studying the mineral zircon, found in rocks spewed up by lava during volcanic eruptions, Ashwal and his colleagues have found that remnants of this mineral were far too old to belong on the island of Mauritius.
"Mauritius is an island, and there is no rock older than nine million years old on the island. However, by studying the rocks on the island, we have found zircons that are as old as three billion years," he said.
This is not the first time that zircons that are billions of years old have been found on the island. A study done in 2013 has found traces of the mineral in beach sand.
However, this study received some criticism, including that the mineral could have been either blown in by the wind, or carried in on vehicle tyres or scientists' shoes.
Ashwal suggests that there are many pieces of various sizes of "undiscovered continent", collectively called "Mauritia", spread over the Indian Ocean, left over by the breakup of Gondwanaland.
"According to the new results, this break-up did not involve a simple splitting of the ancient super-continent of Gondwana, but rather, a complex splintering took place with fragments of continental crust of variable sizes left adrift within the evolving Indian Ocean basin," Ashwal added.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
(With inputs from PTI)
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