'Lost Continent' Discovered Underneath The Indian Ocean Says Researchers

Researchers recently discovered a long-lost continent found underneath the Indian Ocean. This lost continent is reported to be in between India and Madagascar.

According to a report, a researcher from the University of Witwatersrand, Lewis Ashwal first discovered that the island of Maritius had a strong gravitational pull than the other neighboring islands near the Indian Ocean. This discovery was done in 2013.

The team of scientists discovered that there are zircon crystals all over which are from 3 billion years ago. These crystals are older than Maritius that is only 8 million years old. The researchers believe that these zircon crystals have been scattered due to an eruption underneath. They have named this sunken continent as Mauritia.

A report indicates that the tiny continent might have been a cause of the supercontinent Gondwana split into Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica. This split happened more than 200 million years ago. It is reported that this ancient split happened with fragments of the island spread all over.

It is known that there are two types of the Earth's crust. The first one which is more obvious is the planet's continent. These are made up of lighter rocks like granite and rise above the ocean. The other one is the ocean basins. These are submerged into the ocean since these are made up of heavier rocks such as basalt.

Meanwhile, it has already been reported that zircons are found within the area. Zircons happen in granite and form a part of the continent plates. These minerals can survive a long period of time. Zircons also have traces of lead, uranium and thorium.

The zircons found in this study may be dated accurately since these minerals go way back to more than a million years ago. This study may change the way history is and there may be a hidden continent underneath.