Ancient Lost Continent Discovered in Indian Ocean
New evidence of old rocks further demonstrate the landmass "drowned" during continental breakup about 85 million years ago.
In the most recent study, researchers found the zircon in solid rock, not just in the beach sand, addressing a criticism of the initial study asserting that the mineral could have washed ashore from another, existing continent.
Lewis Ashwal, author of the study, said “there are likely many pieces of undiscovered continent,” all part of the land known as Mauritia.
Evidence of a drowned "microcontinent" has been found in sand grains from the beaches of a small Indian Ocean island, scientists say.
A well-known tourist destination, Mauritius (map) is located about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) off the coast of Africa, east of Madagascar. Scientists think the tiny island formed some nine million years ago from cooling lava spewed by
