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Asubmerged continent or asunken continent is aregion ofcontinental crust, extensive in size but mainlyundersea. The terminology is used by somepaleogeologists andgeographers in reference to some landmasses (none of which are as large as any of the seven generally-recognizedcontinents).
The definition of this term is unclear. Ifcontinental fragments and microcontinents smaller than 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi), which is approximately one third of the area ofmainland Australia, are excluded, thenZealandia (approximately 4,900,000 km2 or 1,900,000 sq mi) would be the only geological feature which is classifiable as a submerged continent.
Other notable submerged lands includeBeringia,Doggerland, theKerguelen Plateau,Mauritia,Sahul, andSunda.
Submerged continents have been sought and speculated about in regard to a possible "lost continent" underwater in theAtlantic Ocean.[1][2] There was also a search in the 1930s forLemuria, thought to have been a possible submerged continent between the Indian and African coasts.[3]
Ignatius Donnelly has recently published a work in defence of the story that a continent known among the ancients as Atlantis was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by an earthquake.
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