A research team led by scientists from the University of Derby in Britain has identified a submerged “microcontinent” in an area between Canada and Greenland. Researchers spotted this 400-km stretch of land while studying the tectonic movements of the region’s plates.
The term microcontinent is used by experts to describe a tectonic piece that is separated from a continent. This particular microcontinent was created through a prolonged period of rifting and seafloor spreading between Greenland and North America, researchers estimate.
According to to study from the research team about 118 million years ago the tectonic plate between Greenland and Canada split in two and the result of this process was the formation of this microcontinent 60 million years ago in an area known as Davis Strait
Researchers were studying the movements of tectonic plates in the area when they found a thick crust that extended nearly 400 km beneath the strait. The discovery is important because it is the largest microcontinent identified to date on the planet, with others averaging between 5 and 25 km in area, and will help reveal new information about how they form.
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