Parts of Gondwana megacontinent found off Australia SYDNEY:
Australian scientists exploring uncharted areas of the Indian
Ocean said on Thursday they had found sunken parts of the
megacontinent Gondwana which could offer clues on how the
current world was formed. The two “islands” were found on the
remote sea floor in international waters 1,600 kilometres west
of Australia during a surveying trip last month. Their rocks
contained fossils of creatures found in shallow waters, meaning
they were once part of the continent at or above sea level
rather than created by undersea volcanic activity, said Sydney
University geophysicist Jo Whittaker, one of the key
researchers. She said it was an exciting discovery which would
hopefully shed light on how Gondwana broke into present-day
Australia, Antarctica and India between 80 and 130 million years
ago. Whittaker said she was particularly interested in exploring
India’s drift first northwest and then sharply north, where its
northeast coast, once joined to Australia, s