• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Scientists have discovered new microcontinent between Greenland and Canada

Home> Science> News

Updated 17:24 19 Jul 2024 GMT+1Published 17:25 19 Jul 2024 GMT+1

Scientists have discovered new microcontinent between Greenland and Canada

The newly discovered microcontinent is believed to have formed around 118 million years ago

Rikki Loftus

Rikki Loftus

Research has uncovered a new microcontinent situated between Greenland and Canada.

Scientists recently discovered it after the region had been extensively studied, however there were still some mysteries to solve.

The new microcontinent is in the Davis Strait which is between Baffin Island in Canada and southwestern Greenland.

The micocontinent is located in the Davis Strait (Jason Edwards/Getty)
The micocontinent is located in the Davis Strait (Jason Edwards/Getty)

Advert

Researchers were able to map out the area with gravity data and seismic reflection data.

This created a reconstruction of the tectonic plates in the region.

In a report, the research team said: “A prolonged period of rifting and seafloor spreading between Greenland and North America formed the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay oceanic basins, connected by the Davis Strait.

“However, disagreement exists regarding the exact plate motions between Greenland and Canada, as well as the tectonic evolution of the Davis Strait, with previous models unable to explain the origin of anomalously thick continental crust within the seaway.”

Advert

When the team were reconstructing the region, they found an anomalously thick crust that was actually its own microcontinent.

What is a microcontinent?

Microcontinents are tectonic blocks of continental origin that were detached from continental margins and isolated by oceanic lithosphere.

The report goes on to say: “The reinterpretation of seismic reflection data offshore West Greenland, along with a newly compiled crustal thickness model, identifies an isolated terrane of relatively thick (19–24 km [12-15 miles]) continental crust that was separated from Greenland during a newly recognised phase of E-W extension along West Greenland’s margin.

Advert

“We interpret this continental block as an incompletely rifted microcontinent, which we term the Davis Strait proto-microcontinent.”

It’s believed that the tectonic plate began to split around 118 million years ago.

The new microcontinent is between Greenland and Canada (mtcurado/Getty)
The new microcontinent is between Greenland and Canada (mtcurado/Getty)

The group hopes that the research they’re conducting will help us to have a better understanding of plate tectonics and the hazards they can cause to life on Earth.

Advert

The report continued: “As our seismic reflection interpretations indicate an extensional event in the eastern Davis Strait between 58 and 49 Myr, spatially coincident with the zone of thinnest continental crust between the continental fragment and Greenland, we infer this extensional event led to the separation of this fragment from Greenland.

“Overall, this work not only recognizes several new first order tectonic features of the Earth, the Pre-UTM and Davis Strait proto-microcontinent, but also points to a strong lithospheric control on plate motion directions.

“It is therefore fundamentally important to further study this phenomenon to understand the operation of plate tectonics on our planet.”

Featured Image Credit: Image Makers / Claudiu Dobre / 500px / Getty
Science
News

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

8 hours ago
12 hours ago
14 hours ago
  • 8 hours ago

    Mammoth structures discovered beneath Africa could be 'ancient planet' 4,500,000,000 years old

    The blobs could be pieces of an ancient planet that collided with Earth billions of years ago

    Science
  • 12 hours ago

    Microbiologist reveals how frequently people should actually be washing their sheets

    You might not be washing your bed sheets as often as you should

    Science
  • 14 hours ago

    Everything that happens to your body when you stop drinking alcohol

    Your body begins healing after just one day

    Science
  • 14 hours ago

    Experts confirm terrifying phenomenon that could see the shortest day in Earth’s history very soon

    3 summer days will be the shortest in human history

    Science
  • Scientists have discovered groundbreaking 'dark oxygen' in the ocean that defies what we once thought
  • Scientists think humans could learn how to hibernate and live in between 'life and death state'
  • New study reveals worrying link between vaping and these life threatening diseases
  • Scientists warn hundreds of dormant volcanoes could be on the brink of violent eruption