Scientists Finally Mapped the Lost 'Atlantis' Continent

Bright Side

About 70,000 years ago, there was a huge piece of land off the coast of Australia that could have supported around half a million people. This land connected modern-day Indonesia to Australia and was part of the North-West Australian Shelf. It used to be part of a bigger landmass called Sahul, which linked Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania into one continent. Today, scientists are mapping this lost "Atlantis" to learn more about it. It's fascinating to think about this ancient world that once existed!  Credit: Greater Adria abstract graphic: By Douwe J.J. van Hinsbergen, Trond H. Torsvik, Stefan M. Schmid, Liviu C. Maţenco, Marco Maffione, Reinoud L.M. Vissers, Derya Gürer, and Wim Spakman - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X19302230, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85330050 Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

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00:00Scientists discovered something Atlantis-like near Australia.

00:06There used to be an entire continent that's now underwater.

00:09Here's what happened to it.

00:13Around 70,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, there was a huge landmass called Sahul.

00:19It was located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

00:22This ancient supercontinent connected what we now know as Australia, New Guinea, Tasmania,

00:27and the Aru Islands into one giant piece of land.

00:31Imagine lush tropical rainforests surrounded by beautiful mountains.

00:35Sahul's tallest mountains were in the New Guinea Highlands, with peaks reaching over

00:4013,000 feet.

00:43This beautiful place was home to a variety of unique animals, most of which were pouched

00:48creatures.

00:49But back then, they weren't just koalas and kangaroos.

00:53Sahul was filled with different types of grazers, burrowers, scavengers, and predators.

00:58It was home to a huge Diprotodon, a powerful hunter Thiasolio, and a horrifying Megalania,

01:05a creature that's much larger than any living lizard today.

01:09It was a unique place because the rest of the world was filled with placental animals

01:13at the time, like wolves, elephants, and humans.

01:16In Sahul, the only normal mammals were bats and rodents.

01:21But not all its parts were the same.

01:23The Timor, Arafura, and Carpentaria regions were covered by hot savanna and dry forests.

01:30It looked kinda like modern Australia.

01:33Hot air deserts with scrubland, steppe, and temperate forests along the eastern coast.

01:41Back then, people were migrating all across the world.

01:45They made an incredible journey from Southeast Asia to Sahul and first arrived here from

01:4960,000 to 45,000 years ago.

01:52They mostly traveled by foot and crossed the sea using bamboo rafts and simple boats.

01:58They came there from an ancient landmass called Sunda, which includes parts of Southeast Asia.

02:04They traveled across a series of islands known as Walasia and eventually spread across Sahul.

02:11And it wasn't a small journey.

02:13Sahul was huge, around 4.1 million square miles.

02:17It's bigger than the USA or Canada.

02:19It stretched from the equator to around the southern part of New Zealand.

02:24So they arrived in what is now Australia and became Australia's first people.

02:30Scientists think that Sahul had a population of half a million.

02:34We've discovered cave paintings that date back around 40,000 years.

02:38It's a hunting scene depicting an anoa, or miniature buffalo, facing figures of humans

02:44and animals.

02:46Researchers are trying to figure out how these early settlers moved across Sahul and where

02:50we might find archaeological evidence of their journey.

02:54To do this, they created a landscape evolution model.

02:58The simulation showed how Sahul changed between 75,000 and 35,000 years ago.

03:04It showed potential migration routes and archaeological sites.

03:09Humans likely traveled along coastlines and rivers.

03:14But how did Sahul get submerged off the coast of Australia, similar to the mythical Atlantis?

03:20During the last ice age, much of the Earth's water was locked up in large ice sheets and

03:25glaciers.

03:26The sea levels were much lower than they are today.

03:29After that, the global temperatures increased.

03:32The ice sheets melted and the sea levels rose, flooding the land bridges that once connected

03:37different parts of Sahul together.

03:39About 8,000 years ago, New Guinea separated from mainland Australia.

03:44And then, about 6,000 years ago, Tasmania did the same.

03:48We still can explore the underwater parts of Sahul thanks to new technology.

03:54Divers explore and collect samples directly from the ocean floor.

03:59Underwater drones can go to places that are too deep or dangerous for humans to explore.

04:04And with sonar mapping, scientists use sound waves to create maps of the ocean floor.

04:10It's like using an echo to see what's underwater.

04:13The sound waves bounce off the seabed and come back, helping us create a picture of

04:18what it looks like.

04:20Deep underwater, archaeologists have found stone tools and other artifacts.

04:24They also discovered fossils of animals like Diprotodon and Thylassolio.

04:30By studying the underwater terrain of Sahul, they learned about the ancient rivers, lakes,

04:35and coastlines that existed during the Ice Age.

04:38But Sahul isn't the only underwater continent.

04:45Sahul isn't the only hidden gem of Southeast Asia.

04:48Take Sundaland, a place made up of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and some other islands.

04:54This place was crazy huge during the Ice Age, but now almost fully underwater.

05:00Almost, but not entirely.

05:02The parts above the ocean are teeming with life.

05:06If you like birds, check this place out.

05:08It has almost a fifth of the world's bird species.

05:12You can spot colorful birds like the Java Hawk Eagle and the Bali Starling among the

05:17lush forests.

05:18It's also a home to a fourth of Earth's fish species.

05:22Sundaland's waters are a haven for marine life.

05:25Even the most exotic animals like the Asian Arowanas.

05:30It's also a treasure trove of flowers.

05:33That's where you can find Rafflesia and Titan Arum, the world's largest flowers.

05:39This makes it very similar to Zealandia.

05:41Zealandia is a long, narrow piece of land about half the size of Australia.

05:46It broke from Antarctica about 100 million years ago.

05:50Just like Sundaland, it isn't fully underwater.

05:53Seven percent of it stayed above sea level.

05:56This sticking out little piece is what we now call New Zealand, along with Stewart Island

06:02and some smaller islands.

06:04These pieces of Zealandia are lush and warm.

06:08They're packed with volcanoes, mountain ranges, beautiful natural geysers, and hot springs.

06:14Local people, Maori, use these hot springs for cooking.

06:18People place corn, eggs, and vegetables in baskets and lower them directly in the hot

06:23springs.

06:24Sometimes they cook food in a pit oven using heated rocks.

06:31Another hidden world is known as Argo Land.

06:34This mysterious landmass was once part of Australia, back when dinosaurs chilled around.

06:40It drove scientists crazy for decades.

06:42They knew it existed because it left a huge stretch on the ancient seafloor.

06:47The Argo Abyssal Plain.

06:50About 155 million years ago, it broke off from Australia, saying bye-bye.

06:56The continent drifted somewhere north, and when it reached Southeast Asia, it just vanished.

07:03Scientists had no idea where it went, but recently, they finally found its remains.

07:08Turns out, poor Argo Land's lower parts started drowning into the Sunda Trench, a horrifyingly

07:14deep oceanic pit.

07:16The earth's crust sunk into the mantle.

07:19Meanwhile, the upper parts of Argo Land were pushed upward, grabbing the younger rocks

07:23on land.

07:25Because of this, Argo Land broke apart into a bunch of smaller pieces.

07:29These pieces formed parts of Borneo, Java, Sulawesi, and other regions.

07:34The remains are buried under Indonesia and Myanmar.

07:40Imagine a colossal landmass the size of Greenland, Greater Adria.

07:46Its journey began about 240 million years ago when it broke away from the supercontinent

07:51Gondwana.

07:53It started moving north, and after 100 million years of enjoying the warm seas, it suddenly

07:58crashed into Europe and shattered into pieces.

08:02Most of these pieces went deep into the earth's mantle, but some were scraped off and became

08:08part of mountain ranges like the Alps.

08:11Today, the remnants of Greater Adria are scattered across more than 30 countries, from Spain

08:16to Iran.

08:17That's why they're hard to look for.

08:22Seychelles was also once part of Gondwana.

08:25Yep, these idyllic islands are sitting atop of the ancient continent.

08:29We know a lot about it because of its fascinating granite outcrops.

08:34A hundred years ago, Alfred Wegener discovered continental drift, but no one believed him.

08:40These granite outcrops helped him prove that he's not crazy and that tectonic plates really

08:44are moving.

08:46The Seychelles broke off from India and Madagascar and eventually became a sad loner in the Indian

08:52Ocean.

08:53This probably happened because of some insanely active volcanoes in the Deccan Traps.

08:58But now the islands are home to unique species both on land and in the coral reefs nearby.

09:08Mauritia broke off from India after the dinosaur wiping.

09:12Along its journey, it stretched into a long ribbon-like shape and also broke into pieces.

09:17Now it's all scattered beneath the Indian Ocean.

09:21Scientists stumbled upon this lost land by studying tiny ancient crystals called zircons.

09:27These zircons are like time capsules.

09:30They date back an astonishing 660 million to 2 billion years.

09:35That's even older than Mauritius itself!

09:38These ancient crystals hinted that there's another Atlantis somewhere nearby.

09:43Turns out there are hidden continents all around the world, and maybe we'll discover

09:48more of them in the future!

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