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Researchers have discovered a piece of a lost ancient continent in Canada.
Canadian scientists revealed that a fragment of the North Atlantic Craton, a part of the Earth’s ancient continental crust that fell apart 150 million years ago, is beneath Baffin Island. The island is located north of Canada. According to lead researcher Maya Kopylova, the other remnants of the North Atlantic Craton are in Scotland, Greenland, and Labrador—a province in eastern Canada.
The findings of the breakthrough were based on the analysis of samples of kimberlite, a type of volcanic rock that is a good source of diamonds. Geologists discovered that the kimberlite collected from Baffin Island matched the samples found in other fragments of the North Atlantic Craton.
Baffin Island was not previously believed to be part of the North Atlantic Craton. However, Kopylova is confident about the research’s findings because the portions of the North Atlantic Craton have a unique mineral composition. This means that the similarities among the samples indicate that they all came from the North Atlantic Craton.
Scientists believe that the findings support the plate tectonics theory. According to the theory, several plates beneath the Earth’s surface formed huge supercontinents by pushing smaller continents toward each other, then broke them apart and later pushed them together again.
Kopylova likened the discovery of the ancient land fragment to finding a missing puzzle piece. She believes that their discovery has led to a deeper understanding of the Earth.