Scientists Say The Found 2 Pieces of Sunken, Ancient Continent in the Indian Ocean
- Posted on November 22, 2011 at 1:18pm by
Liz Klimas
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Just west of Australia, in the Indian Ocean, scientist have identified two large chunks of sunken rock — once thought to be just part of the seabed — as part of the ancient continent Gondwana.
Up until now, scientists pretty much only knew where these two plateaus were located and that combined they were the size of West Virginia, but a recent study that dredged samples from them found evidence that they were once continental, according to National Geographic. National Geographic continues with more details:
Rather than the normal basalt rock of most seabeds, the scientists pulled up chunks of granite, gneiss, and sandstone— rocks normally found on continents.
Some samples even contained fossils, said team member Joanne Whittaker, a marine geophysicist at the University of Sydney in Australia.
“It’s quite clear that these two plateaus are little fragments of Gondwana left behind as India moved away from Australia,” Whittaker said.
The Telegraph reports that these rocks being dated at up to 1 billion years old and states that they are currently being compared with rock compositions on Australia’s west coast to verify the origin:
Similar matching was not possible with India because the relevant coast was now “smashed into the Himalayas somewhere,” said Whittaker.
“It’s very significant, it’s not every day you discover two large continental fragments on the ocean floor,” she said.
“Together with some of the other data this has the potential to change how we’ve been modelling that part of the world and that timeframe.”
(Image: The Telegraph)
National Geographic also points out that the scientists found out that the plateaus, which they thought initially had flat tops, were actually composed of rolling hills. The types of fossils found were like those that would be found in shallow seabeds, like mollusks.
The researchers hope that further analysis of this site and the samples could shed light on the break up of Gondwana.
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techhead
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:24pmwhat does God have to do with this ? You guys don’t really believe in god seriously over facts like science come on its 2011 wake up you guys still believe in santa claus at 30 years old???
Report Post »ingvard
Posted on November 29, 2011 at 8:58am“as part of the ancient continent Gondwana” Check out Live Leak or You Tube, put Expanding Earth into the search, well worth the couple minutes of watching.
Report Post »YoungBloodNews
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 5:18pmA dude over at ATS had a HUGE thread talking (hypothesizing) about this over a year ago using many self made charts and a great knowledge of history… Looks like we was on to something ;)
Side note: Might be worth checking out tonights sky. We are getting hit by a big CME and you could possibly see an aurora.
Report Post »cyclops
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 12:17pmAtlantis, here I come…….LOL!!!!!
Report Post »blazingaway
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 10:33amHow stupid are these people, we have sea beds pushed-up onto land, so shouldn’t the opposite be just as likely. Land pushed down into the sea.
Report Post »wbaranowski
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 5:41am“Help me, Gondwana, help me, Gondwana, help, help me, Gondwana. (Repeat several times, some of them in falsetto…, then) Get ‘er out of my mind!” Or, better, yet, “Gondwana leave ‘dis place, Miss Scarlett?”
Report Post »dadadadio
Posted on November 22, 2011 at 10:36pmThis is fascinating stuff. I don’t understand why people of God feel threatened by this kind of science. God moves in mysterious ways, and I just don‘t think He wouldn’t have created us with the intellect we have if He didn’t want us to explore His universe. Thanks, Blaze; I hadn’t seen this anywhere else.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on November 23, 2011 at 12:43amWho said we feel threatened by science. Science is just now discovering the wonders of God. I am a Christian and I find this story fascinating. I think you misunderstand how religion views science.
God’s one day may not equate to our definition of one day. One day to God could be 1000 years, 1 million years; we don’t know.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 3:40pmDADADADIO
I to believe god and am quite comfortable with science.
Report Post »Miyegombo Bayartsogt
Posted on November 29, 2011 at 2:29pmGod has a lot of explaining to do when it comes to the wonders of nature. Take, for instance, the fly that lays its eggs in sheep eyes where the larvae hatch and eat the eyeballs from within while driving its host mad with pain and blindness before killing it. Science can explain away this sort of horror show but if its God‘s work then God isn’t great, is He?
Report Post »Gh0stWrit3r
Posted on November 22, 2011 at 8:36pmIn the beginning God……… that’s all we need to rely on for truth and direction about this planet. If you understand and believe the first verse of the bible, you’re gonna do a lot better on the FINAL EXAM.
For those who don’t know, FINAL EXAM: 1) Did you believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God (Deity) who rose from the grave? 2) Did you repent of your sins and accept the payment of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for them? 3) Did you at least try to bring anyone with you?
Report Post »AJC1973
Posted on November 22, 2011 at 10:57pmGod created the heavens and the earth… Where does it say that either is not subject to change?
Report Post »hi
Posted on November 22, 2011 at 7:59pmFossils are formed by rapid burial in muddy water. They are found all over the earth on the highest mountaintops, on this low seabed. Scientific observation points to a global flood.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 3:44pmdrop the “in muddy water.” and then you are correct.
leave undisturbed, for a couple of million years>>> bingo fossil
less time…. a mummy.
Report Post »Miyegombo Bayartsogt
Posted on November 29, 2011 at 2:12pmWow! The bible’s flood myth certainty can be twisted to explain how fossilized sea creatures are found in all over the Himalayas. Of course, that flood story fails to explain where all the water needed to submerge the world’s tallest mountain in sea water came from or where that water went. Some might claim beginning 40-50 million years ago the Himalayan mountains formed when the seabeds of that time were uplifted into mountains by continental drift, a notion supported by the fact Mount Everest is made of marine limestone. Of course the benighted Bronze Age desert dwelling bible writers knew nothing of the Himalayas or fossils or geology or the Indian Ocean or much of anything, but no matter. That book has all the answers for folks not troubled by an education. Claiming Creationists are dull-eyed and slack-jawed scientific illiterates would be wrong, even if the evidence supports that conclusion.
Report Post »franko58
Posted on November 22, 2011 at 7:15pm“ SCIENTIST SAY” I don’t know, should they believed ? Let’s look at the e-mails from the other story and see if we would have any cause to doubt, “THE SCIENTIST”
Report Post »lylejk
Posted on November 22, 2011 at 6:42pmI thought this was going to be a story about Atlantis. Bummed out I am now. lol
:)
Report Post »Opiesrants
Posted on November 22, 2011 at 6:35pmAlways interesting to see how the Earth evolved. Shows how this global warming crap is just that, crap. The Earth has been evolving for millions if not billions of years. How can just a few years show a change?
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