Earth has six continents not seven, radical new study claims

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after all.

Since we're taught right from a young age that the world is composed of Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America, research now indicates that this might not be the case at all.

Certain theories suggest that there are only six continents.

This bloody legend is a result of in-depth research into the backstory of how Europe and North America got torn apart, and how the landmasses have changed over time.

According to his team, "it appears the North America and Eurasian tectonic plates haven't fragmented, like experts previously thought would've happened about 52 million years ago"

Instead, he said, these plates are keep moving and are still breaking apart, but they're not fully separate yet.

In other words, North America and Europe could be considered a single landmass, rather than two distinct ones.

The study centres on the volcanic isle of Iceland, which was previously thought to have formed around 60 million years ago as a result of the mid-Atlantic ridge.

notes.

However, by doing a thorough job of lookin' at tectonic movements all over Africa, Phethean and his team have given the previous idea the flick and come up with a fair dinkum new theory instead.

They claim that Iceland, together with the Greenland-Iceland Faroes Ridge (GIFR), comprises geological fragments from both the European and North American tectonic plates.

They reckon that this points to the idea that these regions aren't separate landmasses, like people believed before, but rather different bits of a bigger continental layout.

The scientists have even coined the term “Rifted Oceanic Magmatic Plateau” (ROMP) to describe this new geological terrain feature, which could have major implications for how we see the formation and separation of Earth's continents.

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He says this is because he and his colleagues have found "pieces of a lost continent hidden under the ocean and kilometres of thin volcanic rock layers."

Furthermore, the researchers have found striking similarities between Iceland and Africa's Afar region.

And if their study proves correct, this would mean that the European and North American continents are still cracking apart and are still joined together.

Phethean says his team's results may spark some surprise, but he's very confident they're based on thorough research.

He reckons it's a dibber that the GIFR contains heaps of continental crust and that the European and North American tectonic plates haven't officially separated – that's a pretty radical idea, but his research backs it up.

Fair dinkum, the research is still only at the getting ideas stage and the team at the coalface is planning on doing more testing on the volcanic rocks in Iceland to get some hard-hitting proof of an ancient continental crust.

They are also using computer simulations and plate tectonic modelling to gain a better understanding of how the ROMP forms.

Sitting between Canada and Greenland.

This primaeval mass of land is roughly equivalent in size to England and sits beneath the Davis Strait, just off Baffin Island.

Phethean noted that "rifting and microcontinent formation are ongoing events" which help scientists get a better understanding of continent and plate tectonic behaviour.

This information can assist experts in identifying what our planet's landscape may resemble in a far-off future and help determine where valuable resources could potentially be discovered.

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