Land

Science

Ancient sunken continent of Zealandia laid bare in new interactive maps

Newly released maps of Zealandia, a massive sunken landmass, are revealing the topography of this underwater land in unprecedented detail. An interactive website has also been launched allowing users dynamic ways to explore the new data.

Researchers claim that the earliest plant life on land, which would have looked like moss, likely arose 500 million years ago – much earlier than previously believed

Biology

Land ho! Plants may have left the sea much earlier than we thought

According to the fossil record, plants migrated from the sea onto land about 420 million years ago, but that story is patchy at best. New research has wound back the evolutionary clock to determine that plants likely invaded dry land much earlier, about 500 million years ago.

Some scientists claim that New Zealand sits on the continent of Zealandia and not Australia

Science

Is “Zealandia” Earth’s newest continent?

As any high school student will tell you, Earth has seven continents. Now researchers from Australia and New Zealand are challenging this fundamental notion by proposing an eighth continent in the oceans east of Australia, dubbed Zealandia.