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Suggests that Iceland lies over a sunken continent

Three researchers suggest in a new article that Iceland is located on a sunken continent, writes forskning.no.

They think it could extend from Greenland to Scotland. It will also include the area around Jan Mayen, which was already known as a microcontinent, as well as perhaps elevations outside the west side of the UK.

One of the researchers behind the new article, Laurent Gernigon at the Norwegian Geological Survey (NGU), tells Dagbladet that the new theory can be a little difficult to explain.

“Icelandia”

– In this area there is a lot of magma, and when the continental plates are stretched, the magma is pressed both down and up, and in that way a new continent can arise, Gerngion tells Dagbladet.

He goes on to say that the researchers got the idea to call the region “Iceland” after inspiration from another possible sunken continent that is under New Zealand.

– Can you call it a kind of Atlantis?

– I see that some British media have referred to it as that, but we think it is much better to call this “Iceland”, Gernigon answers.

The new hypothesis, which is presented in the publication in the publication “In the Footsteps of Warren B. Hamilton: New Ideas in Earth Science”. It is also published by the Geological Society of America.

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New vision

The surface of Iceland is made of lava, but this research group believes that there may be continental material below and in the surrounding areas – and much more than they have thought before, writes forskning.no.

– There is fantastic work that must be done to prove the existence of Iceland, but it also opens up a whole new view of our geological understanding of the world. Something similar can happen in many more places, says Gillian Foulger in a press release from Durham University.

Heat stain

In the sea between Greenland and Europe, there are elevations on the seabed. These are the areas that the researchers believe may partly consist of continental material.

The researchers believe that these areas are not only made of seabed crust, but that they may contain far more continental crust than researchers have thought so far, writes forskning.no, and Gerniogon tells the website that the entire area between the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland has so far been interpreted as a seafloor crust.

This is traditionally explained by a hot spot, or “hotspot”, which today lies below Iceland, Gernigon states.

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