An international team of researchers led by Gillian Folger, a geophysicist in the Department of Science at Britain’s University of Durham, believes they have found a sunken continent hidden under Iceland.
According to the researchers, the “submerged geological secret” may extend from Greenland to Europe, according to the British newspaper, “Daily Star”.
According to scientists’ estimates, the area of the continent “Icelandia” may reach 600,000 square kilometers, and may extend to one million square kilometers, if areas bordering western Britain are included.
The researchers’ theory, if proven, could change what we know about the world, because it may mean that the continent “Pangia”, which existed 360 million years ago, before the problem of the continents known today separated, did not completely disintegrate.
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The theory of the existence of this continent also opposes the old scientific views about the oceanic and continental crust of the North Atlantic, and how volcanic islands were formed, such as Iceland.
The presence of continental crust rather than oceanic crust could also spark discussions about a new source of minerals and hydrocarbons, both of which lie in the continental crust.
Commenting on the scientists’ findings, Folger said: “Iceland has baffled geologists because current theories that it is built from and surrounded by oceanic crust are not supported by multiple geological data.”
She added: “The crust under Iceland is more than 40 kilometers thick, which is 7 times the thickness of normal oceanic crust. This is simply inexplicable.”
“When we considered the possibility that this thick crust might be continental, our data suddenly made sense. This immediately led us to realize that the continental area was much larger than Iceland itself, meaning there is a continent hidden out there under the sea.”
She explained that the team must prove the existence of “Icelandia”, noting that “this opens the door to a completely new view of our geological understanding of the world. Something similar can happen in many places. We can eventually see maps of our oceans and seas being redrawn as our understanding changes. for what lies underground.
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