Lost continent found on floor of Indian ocean

Lost continent found on floor of Indian ocean

Researchers believe they have discovered the remains of a lost ancient continent on the floor of the Indian Ocean.

Lost continent themes including Atlantis, Mu and Lemuria have always fascinated scientists and fiction writers.

But scientists led by Trond Torsvik from the University of Oslo say they have identified a micro-continent that sank beneath the western Indian Ocean, near Mauritius, millions of years ago.

Professor Torsvik says he believes one part of the continent survived and now forms the Seychelles - an isolated group of islands between Madagascar and India.

"At the moment the Seychelles is a piece of granite or continental crust which is sitting practically in the middle of the Indian Ocean, but once upon a time it was sitting north of Madagascar," he said.

"What we're saying is that maybe this was much bigger and there are many of these continental fragments which are spread around in the Indian Ocean."

Thousands of millions of years ago, all of Earth's landmasses were united in one massive continent, with India sitting next to Madagascar.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-25/lost-continent-found-on-floor-of-indian-ocean/4537924