New evidence found deep in the island of Mauritius reveals the possibility of an 8th continent.
According to Business Standard, scientists believe that the 'lost continent' was the remnant of the break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana some 200 million years ago. They found a piece of crust covered by lava coming out from a volcanic eruption on the island. The team of scientists was led by Professor Lewis Ashwal of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
Ashwal's team studied the mineral zircon, found in rocks spewed by lava during volcanic eruptions. They concluded that whatever remained from this mineral were far too old to be part of the young 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.
According to Live Science, the latest evidence bolsters the result of a 2013 study which also discovered traces of ancient zircons in beach sands of Mauritius. However, opponents of the study claimed that the deposits could have traveled in trade winds or carried along by the shoes of a human. But Ashwal said that the zircons were contained in a 6-million year old rock called trachyte thereby disproving the contention of critics.
The island of Mauritius was believed to have been formed by volcanic activity coming from one of the ridges, which means that there should be no older crusts there. However, the island came about when the layer of cooling lava blanketed several layers of primeval rock.
Conall Mac Niocall, a geologist at UK's University of Oxford stated that based on the new findings, bared in an interview with National Geographic , that there could still be other lost continents waiting to be discovered in the depths of the Indian Ocean.
