00:007. Do you know how many continents there are on Earth? That's an easy one, seven. But
00:07wait a second, aren't Europe and Asia one large continent, Eurasia? It looks so when
00:12you look at the world map. Well, scientists think differently. They don't just look
00:17at bodies of land sticking out of the sea. Geoscientists study the types of rock that
00:22continents are made from. When you see the world from their perspective, the number of
00:26continents actually increases. Yes, they are not a myth. Lost continents exist. Or
00:33at least they used to. They are hiding under other landmasses. Peekaboo! Researchers have
00:39recently discovered one continent just like that. It's called Greater Adria. Sound familiar?
00:45Yes, it has something to do with the Adriatic Sea. This lost continent is completely buried
00:51under Europe. It collided with Europe and started to sink under it a long time ago.
00:56Today it lies beneath Italy, Greece, and the Baltics. Its size and even shape match
01:02that of Greenland, the world's largest island. But how did geoscientists find Greater Adria?
01:08It's no longer visible, but it left some clues. Parts of it were embedded in the Alps.
01:14Other chunks were incorporated into present-day Italy and Croatia, on the other side of the
01:19Adriatic Sea. Limestone rocks from the former continent started to change once they were
01:25under the European landmass. Tremendous heat and pressure, spread over tens of millions
01:30of years, changed their structure. Out goes the limestone, in comes the marble. All the
01:36Greek and Roman temples you admired on your summer vacation were constructed using this
01:41marble. It was sort of a going-away gift from a long-lost continent.
01:48Greater Adria camouflaged itself well for thousands of years. But other lost continents
01:53were hiding in plain sight. Have you heard of Earth's eighth continent, Zealandia?
01:59Probably not, because it sits under the surface of the Pacific Ocean. 95% of Zealandia is
02:05now underwater. Can you guess where exactly? Its name is a good hint – under New Zealand.
02:12If you open Google Maps, you can see its outline. Look for a lighter shade of blue in the ocean.
02:17It should stretch from New Caledonia to New Zealand. This bump in the ocean floor used
02:22to be above sea level. It was about two-thirds of Australia and more than twice the landmass
02:28of Greater Adria in size. We can spot Zealandia today because it hasn't sunk too low. And
02:35that's the best way to discover other lost continents.
02:38Imagine the Earth without the oceans. The bottom of the sea isn't flat. There are
02:43mountains and trenches. You could put Mount Everest in the deepest of them, and there
02:47would still be 7,000 feet between it and sea level. This trench got so deep because
02:53of a geological process called subduction. The Pacific Plate got under the Philippine
02:59Plate. Earth's crust is made out of those plates that float in a sea of molten rock.
03:05Then they bump into each other, one goes down while the other one rises. That's how Greater
03:10Adria ended up under the European continent. Our planet is constantly on the go. We don't
03:17miss this process because it happens deep beneath our feet.
03:20120 million years ago, Australia and Antarctica were a single piece of land. Yep, the coldest
03:27and one of the hottest places on Earth were once the same territory. Antarctica said goodbye
03:33to Australia, but it didn't leave empty-handed. Today, there is an oceanic plateau in the
03:39Indian Ocean. The word plateau comes from French, and it means elevated flatland. And
03:45the name of this land sounds like the title of a Hollywood movie, Broken Ridge. Long ago,
03:51it was connected to another lost continent. Scientists believe that it made a land bridge
03:56between India and Antarctica. What was this land like? The answer possibly lies in a tiny
04:03archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean. These islands are all that is left of an ancient
04:09landmass. They have a cold climate. The islands feature glaciers because they're so close
04:14to Antarctica. But in the past, the climate must've been temperate with plenty of rainfall.
04:20The animals and plants would've been similar to those that we find in tropical regions
04:24today. The lost continent's landscape probably resembled that of New Zealand.
04:31While we're in the area, can you guess which continent the island state of Madagascar once
04:36belonged to? If you guessed Africa, sorry, you were wrong. Hey, don't feel bad. Look
04:42up and to the right of the map. The correct answer is India. Some 120 million years ago
04:48– I wasn't around then – India separated from the African continent and went northeast.
04:54Madagascar wasn't quick enough and ended up as an island off the southeast coast of
04:58Africa. But there is evidence of an even greater landmass – the lost continent of Mauritia.
05:06Scientists found traces of the ancient landmass under the island of Mauritius. Today, it's
05:11a tourist hotspot. But millions of years ago, it was a real hotspot. Volcanoes and
05:17all. That's how scientists were able to retrace the steps of Mauritia. They found
05:22a mineral that exists in rocks, which lava spews out after an eruption. The long-lost
05:28land once covered the area from Mauritius to the west coast of India. Imagine if that
05:33land existed today. It would form a great mix of Indian and African cultures. The local
05:38dishes would definitely be spicy!
05:42Speaking of spicy, have you had Indonesian food recently? Just 50,000 years ago, Southeast
05:48Asia looked much different. There was no Sumatra, Borneo, Java, or even Australia. Just Sunda
05:55and Saul – two continental masses that were divided by a deep-water trench. You had the
06:00extension of mainland Southeast Asia on one side, and the Greater Australia on the other.
06:07Back then, Bali stood at the southernmost tip of Asia.
06:11Biologists were among the first scientists to notice the split. Species developed differently
06:16on Sunda and Saul. That's why Australia has unique animals, such as the kangaroo,
06:22wombat, and platypus. And did you know that a giant kangaroo once roamed the island of
06:28New Guinea? That's because up until the end of the last age, there was a land bridge
06:33to Australia. Today, the two islands are separated by the Torres Strait, but it's
06:38quite shallow – less than 65 feet. It's a reminder that this was once a single landmass
06:44called Saul.
06:46Another ocean strait that isn't too deep separates Asia from North America. The Bering
06:51Strait sits today in the place of Beringia. This ancient landmass wasn't that big. It
06:57stretched 1,000 miles from north to south. That's just a third of the driving distance
07:01from Los Angeles to New York.
07:04Beringia was important for another reason. During the Ice Ages, it connected the whole
07:08world. Water levels were 300 feet lower than they are today. If they went even lower, you
07:14could walk from the Cape of Good Hope in Africa all the way to Cape Horn in South America.
07:21Talk about the ultimate backpacking route!
07:25Today you can hop on an airplane and fly to pretty much any place on the globe. The world
07:30has never seemed smaller, has it? Well, it has. Some 300-200 million years ago, we were
07:36all one world, literally. Pangaea was a supercontinent that included all of the continents. Its name
07:44is in Greek, and it simply means All Earth. But Pangaea started to crack up. The biggest
07:50gap formed between the Americas on one side and Europe and Africa on the other. Seawater
07:56soon started pouring in, and that's how we got the Atlantic Ocean.
08:00This process is by no means over. While you are watching this video, North America is
08:06drifting further and further away from Europe at the rate of 1 inch per year. Doesn't
08:12seem much when compared to the average human lifespan, but in the end, all the continents
08:17will reconnect with each other, forming a supercontinent. And it wouldn't be the
08:22first time in Earth history that this happens. Honestly, I'm not gonna wait around for that.
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