Zealandia

Lore & Background

Its crust is thinner than normal continents, about 20 km thick. Compression uplifted the Southern Alps, while subduction of the Pacific Plate led to extensive volcanism, including the Coromandel and Taupō Volcanic Zones. Volcanism on Zealandia occurred repeatedly before, during, and after rifting from Gondwana. During the Miocene, the northern section may have slid over a stationary hotspot, forming the Lord Howe Seamount Chain. Zealandia may have played an important part in the origin of the Pacific Ocean's volcanic Ring of Fire. Zealandia supports substantial inshore fisheries and contains gas fields, including the New Zealand Maui gas field. Offshore mineral resources include ironsands, volcanic massive sulfides, and ferromanganese nodule deposits.

Reader's Guide

Zealandia matters because it challenges traditional definitions of continents. This verdict was widely covered in the news media. Geologist Nick Mortimer commented that if it were not for the ocean level, it would have been recognised as such long ago. Its area is six times that of the next-largest microcontinent, Madagascar, and more than half the exposed land area of the Australian continent. Zealandia is also substantially larger than the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. The landmass supports unique biogeography, featuring Antarctic flora such as araucarias and podocarps, and a fossilized forest from the Jurassic period.

Did You Know?

• Zealandia is almost entirely submerged, with 94% of its landmass beneath the Pacific Ocean.
• Zealandia is more than twice the size of the Ontong Java Plateau, the world's largest intraoceanic large igneous province.
• The name Zealandia is a latinate name for New Zealand, itself referring to the Dutch Zeeland province.