--- ---  # Apparently New Zealand Might Be Part of a Lost Underwater Continent ## Video: More Whales Are Stranded on a Remote New Zealand Beach Bringing the Total to 650 [Watch (HLS stream): More Whales Are Stranded on a Remote New Zealand Beach Bringing the Total to 650](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/j0Aakb0I.m3u8) (1:22)  _Published 2017-02-11. A new pod of 240 whales swam aground at a remote New Zealand beach on Saturday just hours after weary volunteers managed to refloat a different group of whales following an earlier mass stranding._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 17, 2017 1:19 PM UTC  Beach near Greymouth, West Coast of New Zealand Beach near Greymouth, West Coast of New ZealandKathryn Diehm—Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 17, 2017 1:19 PM UTC A group of geologists believes [New Zealand](http://time.com/4668021/whales-new-zealand-650-total/) and several surrounding islands, including [New Caledonia](http://time.com/2910469/natural-park-of-the-coral-sea-new-caledonia/), should be reclassified as part of an eighth [continent](http://time.com/4657836/lost-continent-mauritius/) called Zealandia, rather than be grouped with Australia in the Australasia region. As the islands are connected by submerged continental crust, which is separate and distinct from Australia and Antarctica, the geologists argue that they should form their own continent — even if 94% of that 1.9 million-square-mile land mass (approximately the area of greater India) is underwater. The geologists, who hail from New Zealand, Melbourne, New Caledonia and Sydney, spent more than two decades gathering enough data to make the case for Zealandia. They collated their findings in a study called “Zealandia: Earth’s Hidden Continent,” published in the Geological Society of America’s journal, [_GSA Today_](http://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/27/3/article/GSATG321A.1.htm) “Zealandia illustrates that the large and the obvious in natural science can be overlooked,” the researchers say in the conclusion of their study. “Based on various lines of geological and geophysical evidence, particularly those accumulated in the last two decades… Zealandia is not a collection of partly submerged continental fragments but is a coherent 4.9 Mkm2 continent.” Zealandia: New Zealand and New Caledonia's New Continent ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4674375/zealandia-new-zealand-continent/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4674375/zealandia-new-zealand-continent/"},"headline":"Apparently New Zealand Might Be Part of a Lost Underwater Continent","datePublished":"2017-02-17T13:19:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:43:53.005Z","description":"Geologists think it should be part of an eighth continent: Zealandia","url":"https://time.com/4674375/zealandia-new-zealand-continent/","keywords":["geology","New Zealand","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b0bf9bcf0032e7d/6988bac1bc6cfc4c493e0337/gettyimages-452340507.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b0bf9bcf0032e7d/6988bac1bc6cfc4c493e0337/gettyimages-452340507.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Starfish sunlight sunrise beach","caption":"Starfish sunlight sunrise beach","creditText":"Kathryn Diehm—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/geology/","name":"geology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4674375/zealandia-new-zealand-continent/","name":"Apparently New Zealand Might Be Part of a Lost Underwater Continent"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"More Whales Are Stranded on a Remote New Zealand Beach Bringing the Total to 650","description":"A new pod of 240 whales swam aground at a remote New Zealand beach on Saturday just hours after weary volunteers managed to refloat a different group of whales following an earlier mass stranding.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/j0Aakb0I/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-02-11T21:16:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/j0Aakb0I.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4674375/zealandia-new-zealand-continent/","duration":"PT1M22S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4674375/zealandia-new-zealand-continent/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```