What am I going to do and find him?’” he said. Eldert Lawyer. Thus, after a long investigation, the Dutch geologist finally managed to find missing continent during 155 million years. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the case. But it is true that Advocaat was the main author of the study describing the discovery of Argoland, a continent that disappeared after breaking away from Australia, long before humans appeared on Earth.
If this continent was known to exist, it was because there were traces of separation Australia in fossils, mountain ranges and rocks. However, his whereabouts remained a mystery for many years. There are much clearer divisions, for example Africa and South America, which fit together almost like puzzle pieces. But the right piece for Australia didn’t seem to be on the world map.
Now these scientists have discovered that the problem all along was precisely finding one single piece. Because Argoland is not actually a continent consisting of a single mass of Earth. After secession it became an archipelago, which is now located under Southeast Asia.
In Search of the Lost Continent
Besides traces in fossils and mountain ranges, the greatest evidence of Argoland’s existence is the void it left when it left. This is a basin located in the deep ocean, west of Australia, called Bottomless Plain of Argo.
Apparently there was a gap in the puzzle, indicating that a piece had come off at some point. But where is this piece?
The team of scientists passed 7 years using computer models to try to find Argoland, initially to no avail. They were looking for a piece continental plate this could fill the gap left next to Australia.
But after running into an invisible wall many times, they decided to change their strategy.
When a piece of a continental plate breaks away, it goes away trace on the seabed, which can make us guess what his journey was like. In this case, you can see that it must have moved. to the northwestuntil they reached the islands of Southeast Asia. But there is no continent suitable for Argoland.
On the other hand, they were found. small continental fragments surrounded by very old oceanic plates. The lithosphere, the hardest and most superficial layer of the Earth, is made up of plates that can be oceanic, continental, or mixed. The first include those that are mostly covered with oceanic crust. Very rough, those that are under the ocean. Continental ones are covered predominantly with continental crust, and mixed ones are covered with both types of crust.
Therefore, while following the voyage of Argoland, it was noticed that near the Asian continent there are fragments of those continental plates that are surrounded by ancient oceanic crust, so that it must have moved from somewhere else many, many years ago. Given this discovery, geologists Utrecht University They decided to use their models to analyze the origins of these small strips of terrain and indeed saw that geologically they matched what had once escaped Australia.
Why did Argoland remain hidden for so long?
There are two reasons why the search for Argoland took so long. The first, as we have already seen, was the efforts of scientists to search the whole continent. But that is not all.
The second obstacle was density difference between the oceanic and continental crust, causing these small fragments of the continent to remain slightly hidden below sea level.
Answers about the mysterious invisible line
The discovery of this missing continent is important for many reasons. First of all, because a piece of Earth, which has been a mystery for many years, has finally been placed.
But also because it helps explain a very curious phenomenon known as Wallace Line. It is an invisible barrier that runs through the center of Indonesia, separating a wide variety of animal species that never mix with each other. To the west of the line are placental mammals such as apes, tigers and elephants, which are also found in Southeast Asia. But they are almost completely absent in the east, where marsupials and cockatoos can be found. This is very interesting because they are very characteristic animals commonly found in Australia. Therefore, they may have drifted there on the remains of Argoland. Two riddles solved for the price of one. “Where will I go and find it” is best used in a story.
Source: Hiper Textual
