Earth Actually Has Six Continents
Geoscience expert to study why continents break apart where magma is missing
The Earth's surface is ever incrementally changing as tectonic plates shift and continents drift. One of the most fundamental questions in geology is why continents break apart. In a new study, a team of researchers from the University of Derby led by Dr. Jordan Phethean have claimed that Earth only has six continents as per a report.
The science of exactly why they ended up 5000 km away from each other and how other parts of the continental jigsaw puzzle pulled apart.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, is the first to use a new technique to map the distribution of magma beneath the Earth's surface. The researchers found that there is a significant gap in magma beneath the Antarctic continent, and this gap is responsible for the continent's separation from the rest of the world.
This finding has important implications for our understanding of how the Earth's continents formed. It suggests that magma plays a key role in the breakup of continents, and that the absence of magma can lead to the formation of new continents.
The researchers now plan to use their new technique to study other areas of the Earth's surface where continents are breaking apart. They hope to learn more about the processes that drive continental breakup, and to better understand how the Earth's continents have evolved over time.
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