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Zealandia and the Kerguelen plateau are two real submerged continents in the Southern Hemisphere. Zealandia is larger, with only 7% above water as New Zealand, while Kerguelen is smaller and located far from land. Both were part of Gondwana and sank millions of years ago.
The term “sunken continent” is most often heard in association with the legendary lands of Atlantis or Mu. Atlantis and Mu never actually existed, but there are a couple of real submerged continents around the world. Both are in the Southern Hemisphere. The submerged continents are named Zealandia and the Kerguelen plateau.
Zealandia is the larger of the two submerged continents, with an area of 3.5 million square kilometers, larger than Greenland and nearly half the size of Australia. As the name suggests, the only part of the continent above water today is the islands of New Zealand. Zealandia sank rapidly when it broke away from Australia/Antarctica 83 million years ago. About 25 million years ago, Zealandia was completely under water. Today, 93% is still under water, with just 7% making up present-day New Zealand, created by tectonic action some 23 million years ago. Most of the submerged continent is less than 500 m (1,640 ft) below the surface.
Another submerged continent, far to the west, is called the Kerguelen Plateau or simply Kerguelen. The continent takes its name from the Kerguelen Islands, which together with Heard Island and the McDonald Islands are the only parts of the continent above the surface. Kerguelen is located in one of the regions of the world’s oceans furthest from land, approximately 3,000 km (1,864 mi) southwest of Australia and 5,000 km (3,100 mi) south of India. Like Zealandia, Kerguelen was part of the huge continent of Gondwana, which consisted of virtually all of the land masses of the present Southern Hemisphere. Kerguelen is smaller than Zealandia, with a land area slightly larger than one million square kilometres, about three times the size of Japan. More than 99% of the continent is under water.
Kerguelen began forming 110 million years ago, over the Kerguelen hotspot. Between 100 million years ago and 20 million years ago, the continent was three times above sea level and may have had tropical flora and fauna 50 million years ago. Due to its size, Kerguelen is called a microcontinent. Kerguelen sank 20 million years ago and is now 1-2 km (0.6 – 1.2 mi) under the ocean.
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