The idea of ‘Eight continent’, so far considered as one of the much-awaited mysteries like Bermuda Triangle. Earlier in various historical archives, people went identifying the presence of an unknown continent sized land in between North America and Asia, fast forward the plethora of theories, scientists are now finally taking the matter seriously and a group of experts is all set to find out the mystery behind this.

The announcement about this odyssey came on 28 July 2017, the sole objective of this project is unlocking the secrets of the lost continent ‘Zealandia’. It is believed that the continent is mostly submerged, is said to have sunk after breaking away from Australia 60–85 million years past.

In a paper published by Geological Society of America’s Journal GSA in February, Researchers stated that Zealandia should be considered as a distinct continent as it met all the criteria applied to Earth’s other continents, including elevation above the surrounding area, distinctive geology, a well-defined area and a crust much thicker than that found on the ocean floor.

Coming to the location- extending from south of New Zealand northward to New Caledonia and west to the Kenn Plateau off Australia’s east, it encompasses five million square kilometers. Drill ship Joides Resolution will recover geological samples from beneath the seabed in order to uncover crucial facts about oceanographic history, extreme climates, sub-seafloor life, earthquake-generating zones, and plate tectonics 

Earlier, in February, lead author Nick Mortimer in his scientific paper said that experts had been gathering data to make the case for Zealandia being a continent for more than 20 years. However, all their efforts were in vain as it was in the region of high tide.

Finalizing the Odyssey’s details, Neville Exon of Australian National University said that this two-month long expedition would also help the scientists develop a better understanding of major changes in the global tectonic configuration and other discoveries of the new species.

Disclosing the inside details of the mission, authorities stated that the scientific expedition is called Expedition 371, and is funded by the National Science Foundation and the International Ocean Discovery Program.

• Precisely, 30 scientists are included in the team aboard the JOIDES Resolution, a massive scientific drilling ship. The total duration of the trip is expected to be around two months.

• The project begins with the group drilling deep into the continent’s crust or upper layer.

• ‘Joides Resolution’ the drill ship aims to recover sediments and rocks lying deep beneath the sea bed in a bid to discover how the region has behaved over the past tens of millions of years.

• Events that altered the position of both water and land on Earth will be studied w.r.t ocean currents and the climate.

• Each core will be between 1,000 feet and 2,600 feet, meaning that scientists can peer back in time over tens of millions of years.

• Six visiting sites are declared, located in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand to drill cores of sediment and rocks from the Earth’s crust.

Related Article: Geologists Have Discovered The 8th Continent Of The World And Its Name Is Zealandia