New study challenges traditional seven-continent theory

According to its recent article, Brighter Side highlights that a new study challenges the traditional seven-continent model and suggests that the tectonic plates of North America and Europe might still be connected. 

From a young age, we're taught to identify seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America. However, a pioneering study published in the journal Gondwana Research questions this conventional view.

Led by Dr. Jordan Phethean from the University of Derby, the research suggests that the traditional division of continents may not be as straightforward as we once thought. The study indicates that North America and Europe, despite being divided by the Atlantic Ocean, could still be geologically connected.

"The North American and Eurasian tectonic plates have not yet actually broken apart, as is traditionally thought to have happened 52 million years ago," Dr. Phethean explained. Instead, these plates are still stretching and gradually pulling apart, suggesting that they remain part of a single, evolving landmass rather than two distinct continents.

At the heart of this research is Iceland, a volcanic island that has long been believed to have formed around 60 million years ago at the mid-Atlantic ridge—a tectonic boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates. Historically, scientists thought that the ridge triggered a hot mantle plume, which eventually led to the creation of the island.

However, the new study offers a more nuanced perspective, highlighting how this geological process suggests that North America and Europe have not yet completely separated.

This reinterpretation of Earth's geological history challenges the traditional definition of continents and could change how we perceive the planet's evolution.

However, by closely examining tectonic movements across Africa, Phethean and his team have questioned this theory and proposed a bold new idea. They suggest that Iceland, along with the Greenland-Iceland-Faroes Ridge (GIFR), holds geological fragments from both the European and North American tectonic plates.

This indicates that these areas are not isolated landforms, as once believed, but rather interconnected segments of a larger continental structure. To describe this new geological feature, the scientists have introduced the term “Rifted Oceanic Magmatic Plateau” (ROMP), which could significantly change how we understand the formation and separation of Earth's continents.

Phethean likens the discovery to finding the Lost City of Atlantis, explaining that his team uncovered "fragments of lost continent submerged beneath the sea and kilometers of thin lava flows."

Additionally, the researchers have discovered significant similarities between Iceland and Africa’s volcanic Afar region. If their findings are correct, this would imply that the European and North American continents are still in the process of splitting and remain connected. Phethean recognizes that their conclusions may surprise many but insists they are based on thorough research.

“It is controversial to suggest that the GIFR contains a large amount of continental crust within it and that the European and North American tectonic plates have perhaps not yet officially broken up,” he acknowledged, while emphasizing that his research supports these ideas.

Nonetheless, the research is still in its early conceptual stages, and the team plans to conduct additional tests on Iceland’s volcanic rocks to gather more solid proof of an ancient continental crust. They are also using computer simulations and plate tectonic modeling to gain a deeper understanding of how the ROMP was formed.

This research builds on Phethean’s previous discovery of a concealed “proto-microcontinent” located between Canada and Greenland. This ancient landmass, roughly the size of England, lies beneath the Davis Strait, just off Baffin Island.

Phethean emphasized that “rifting and microcontinent formation are ongoing phenomena” that provide valuable insights into how continents and plate tectonics behave. This understanding could help scientists predict what Earth might look like in the distant future and identify potential resource locations.

These groundbreaking findings suggest that our understanding of Earth's continents may need to be revised. The research challenges established geological views by highlighting the interconnectedness of North America and Europe, offering new opportunities for studying Earth’s dynamic processes.

As scientists keep exploring, the world map we once knew could undergo significant changes.

By Naila Huseynova