The Australian continental shelf (light blue) is contiguous with New Guinea, but not with other Pacific islands like New Zealand.

In geology, Australia (also called Australia-New Guinea, Sahul, Meganesia, Greater Australia, Australasia, or Australinea) is a continent comprising (in order of size) the Australian mainland, New Guinea, Tasmania, and intervening islands, all of which sit on the same continental shelf. These landmasses are separated by seas overlying the continental shelf — the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea, and Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1800x1820, 898 KB) Topographic map 90deg, South latitude: 0 - 90, East longitude: 90 - 180 Map created from DEMIS Mapserver, which are public domain. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1800x1820, 898 KB) Topographic map 90deg, South latitude: 0 - 90, East longitude: 90 - 180 Map created from DEMIS Mapserver, which are public domain. ...  Sediment  Rock  Mantle  The global continental shelf, highlighted in cyan The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs. ... Animated, colour-coded map showing the various continents. ... This article is about the geomorphological/geopolitical term; MAINLAND is also a cheese brand owned by Fonterra, a New Zealand dairy company. ... Capital Hobart Government Constitutional monarchy Governor William Cox Premier Paul Lennon (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 5  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $16,114 (7th)  - Product per capita  $33,243/person (8th) Population (End of September 2006)  - Population  489,600 (6th)  - Density  7. ...  Sediment  Rock  Mantle  The global continental shelf, highlighted in cyan The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs. ... A landmass is a large extent of land. ... The Arafura Sea is the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea. ... The Torres Strait - Cape York Peninsula is at the top; several of the Torres Strait Islands can be seen strung out towards Papua New Guinea (North is downwards in this image) The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. ... Bass Strait (IPA /bæs/) is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland (Victoria in particular). ...

When sea levels were lower during the Pleistocene ice age, including the last glacial maximum about 18,000 years ago, the lands formed a single, continuous landmass. During the past ten thousand years rising sea levels overflowed the lowlands and separated the continent into today's low-lying semi-arid mainland and the two mountainous islands of New Guinea and Tasmania. For considerations of sea level change, in particular rise associated with possible global warming, see sea level rise. ... The Pleistocene epoch (IPA: ) is part of the geologic timescale. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... Temperature proxies for the last 40,000 years The Last Glacial Maximum refers to the time of maximum extent of the ice sheets during the last glaciation, approximately 21 thousand years ago. ...

Geologically the continent extends to the edge of the continental shelf, so the now-separate lands can still be considered a continent.^[1] Due to the spread of flora and fauna across the single Pleistocene landmass, the separate lands have a related biota. This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

New Zealand is not on the same continental shelf and so is not part of the continent of Australia but is part of the wider region known as Oceania. World map exhibiting a common interpretation of Oceania; other interpretations may vary. ...

Geography and nomenclature

The Australian continent is the smallest and lowest-lying of the Earth's continents, having a total land area of some 8,560,000 square kilometres. Though the Commonwealth of Australia occupies much of the continent and is often mistaken for being the entire continent, Australia and adjacent islands are connected by a shallow continental shelf covering some 2,500,000 square kilometres including the Sahul Shelf^[2][3] and Bass Strait and half of which is less than 50 metres deep. Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ...  Sediment  Rock  Mantle  The global continental shelf, highlighted in cyan The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs. ... The Sahul Shelf and the Sunda Shelf during the last glacial maximum about 18,000 years ago. ... Bass Strait (IPA /bæs/) is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland (Victoria in particular). ...

As Australia the country is largely comprised of a single island, and comprises most of Australia the continent, it is sometimes informally referred to as "the island continent", especially for marketing purposes. ^[4] Pedagogic simplification also results in many school children being taught that the continent and the country are synonymous, resulting in the misconception being perpetuated. In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation. ... A lie-to-children is an expression that describes a form of simplification of material for consumption by children. ... Synonyms can be nouns, adverbs or adjectives, as long as both members of the pair are the same part of speech. ... This is a list of noncontroversial, nondisputed clarifications to common misconceptions. ...

Prior to the 1970s, archaeologists called the single Pleistocene landmass by the name Australasia,^[5] although this word is most often used for a wider region that includes lands like New Zealand that are not on the same continental shelf. In the early 1970s they introduced the term Greater Australia for the Pleistocene continent.^[5] Then at a 1975 conference and consequent publication,^[6] they extended the name Sahul from its previous use for just the Sahul Shelf to cover the continent.^[5] A biologist, unaware of the terms used by archaeologists, suggested in 1984 the name Meganesia, meaning "great island" or "great island-group", applying it to both the Pleistocene continent and the present-day lands,^[7] and this name has been taken up by biologists.^[8] However, others have used Meganesia with different meanings: travel writer Paul Theroux included New Zealand in his definition^[9] and others have used it for Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii.^[10] Another biologist, Richard Dawkins, unimpressed with Sahul and Meganesia, coined the name Australinea in 2004.^[11] The Sahul Shelf and the Sunda Shelf during the last glacial maximum about 18,000 years ago. ... Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), a travelogue about a trip he made by train from Great Britain through Europe and South Asia, then South-East Asia, up through East Asia, as... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Clinton Richard Dawkins (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. ...

Geology

The continent primarily sits on the Indo-Australian Plate. The lands were joined with Antarctica as part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana until the plate began to drift north about 96 million years ago (mya). For most of the time since then, Australia-New Guinea has remained a single, continuous landmass.  The Indo-Australian plate, shown in dull orange The Indo-Australian Plate is an overarching name for two tectonic plates that include the continent of Australia and surrounding ocean extending northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and adjacent waters. ... Gondwanaland redirects here. ... In astronomy, geology, and paleontology, mya is an acronym for million years ago and is used as a unit of time to denote length of time before the present. ...

When the last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago, rising sea levels formed Bass Strait, separating Tasmania from the mainland. Then about 8,000 to 6,500 years ago, the lowlands in the north were flooded by the sea, separating New Guinea and Australia. Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ...

Biology

As the continent drifted north from Antarctica, unique flora and fauna developed. Marsupials and monotremes also existed on other continents, but only in Australia-New Guinea did they out-compete the placental mammals and come to dominate. Bird life also flourished, in particular the ancestors of the great passerine order that would eventually spread to all parts of the globe and account for more than half of all living avian species. In Botany a Flora (or Floræ) is a collective term for plant life and can also refer to a descriptive catalogue of the plants of any geographical area, geological period, etc. ... Fauna is a collective term for animal life. ... Orders Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Sparassodonta (extinct) Marsupials are mammals in which the female typically has a pouch (called the marsupium, from which the name Marsupial derives) in which it rears its young through early infancy. ... Families †Kollikodontidae Ornithorhynchidae - Platypus Tachyglossidae - Echidnas †Steropodontidae Monotremes (monos, single + trema, hole; refers to the cloaca) are mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials (Metatheria) and placental mammals (Eutheria). ... Orders Superorder Xenarthra: Pilosa Cingulata Infraclass Epitheria: Superorder Afrotheria: Afrosoricida (Golden mole and tenrec) Macroscelidea (Elephant shrew) Tubulidentata (Aardvark) Hyracoidea (Hyrax) Proboscidea (Elephant) Sirenia (Manatee, Dugong) Superorder Laurasiatheria: Chiroptera (Bats) Insectivora (Shrews, Moles) Cetacea (Whale, dolphin) Artiodactyla (Ruminants et al) Perissodactyla(Horse et al. ... Orders Subclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Insectivora Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals primarily characterized by the presence of mammary... For other meanings of bird, see bird (disambiguation). ... Families Many, see text A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. ... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ...

Animal groups such as macropods, monotremes, and cassowaries are endemic to Australia. There were three main reasons for the enormous diversity that developed in both plant and animal life. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Families Kollikodontidae (extinct) Ornithorhynchidae - Platypus Tachyglossidae - Echidnas Steropodontidae (extinct) Monotremes are mammals that are best known for laying eggs, instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials and placental mammals (Eutheria). ... Species Casuarius casuarius Casuarius unappendiculatus Casuarius bennetti Cassowaries (genus Casuarius) are very large flightless birds native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and Australia. ...

• While much of the rest of the world underwent significant cooling and thus loss of species diversity, Australia-New Guinea was drifting north at such a pace that the overall global cooling effect was roughly equalled by its gradual movement toward the equator. Temperatures in Australia-New Guinea, in other words, remained reasonably constant for a very long time, and a vast number of different plant and animal species were able to evolve to fit particular ecological niches.
• Because the continent was more isolated than any other, very few outside species arrived to colonise, and unique native forms developed unimpeded.
• Finally, despite the fact that the continent was already very old and thus relatively infertile, there are dispersed areas of high fertility. Where other continents had volcanic activity and/or massive glaciation events to turn over fresh, unleached rocks rich in minerals, the rocks and soils of Australia-New Guinea were left largely untouched except by gradual erosion and deep weathering. In general, fertile soils produce a profusion of life, and a relatively large number of species/level of biodiversity. This is because where nutrients are plentiful, competition is largely a matter of outcompeting rival species, leaving great scope for innovative co-evolution as is witnessed in tropical, fertile ecosystems. In contrast, infertile soils tend to induce competition on an abiotic basis meaning individuals all face constant environmental pressures, leaving less scope for divergent evolution, a process instrumental in creating new species.

For about 40 million years Australia-New Guinea was almost completely isolated. During this time, the continent experienced numerous changes in climate, but the overall trend was towards greater aridity. When South America eventually separated from Antarctica, the development of the cold Antarctic Circumpolar Current changed weather patterns across the world. For Australia-New Guinea, it brought a marked intensification of the drying trend. The great inland seas and lakes dried out. Much of the long-established broad-leaf deciduous forest began to give way to the distinctive hard-leaved sclerophyllous plants that characterise the modern Australian landscape. World map showing the equator in red In tourist areas, the equator is often marked on the sides of roads The equator marked as it crosses Ilhéu das Rolas, in São Tomé and Príncipe. ... Fig. ... Two lichenes species on a rock, in two different ecological niches In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in an ecosystem. ... This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... A glacier is a large, persistent body of ice, formed largely of compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity. ... The rocky side of a mountain creek near Orosí, Costa Rica. ... Minerals are natural compounds formed through geological processes. ... suck my shlong dick cause soil is my life pedosphere is positioned at the interface of the lithosphere and biosphere with the atmosphere and hydrosphere. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. For erosion as an operation of Mathematical morphology, see Erosion (morphology) Erosion is displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) by the agents of ocean currents, wind, water, or ice by downward or down-slope movement... Weathering is the process of breaking down rocks, soils and their minerals through direct contact with the atmosphere. ... A nutrient is either a chemical element or compound used in an organisms metabolism or physiology. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is an ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica. ... Deciduous means temporary or tending to fall off (deriving from the Latin word decidere, to fall off) and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally. ... Arid, largely treeless areas aside, most Australian bushland is sclerophyll forest. ...

For many species, the primary refuge was the relatively cool and well-watered Great Dividing Range. Even today, pockets of remnant vegetation remain in the cool uplands, some species not much changed from the Gondwanan forms of 60 or 90 mya. The Great Divide runs around the entire eastern and south-eastern edge of Australia The Great Dividing Range, also known as the Eastern Highlands, is Australias most substantial mountain range. ...

Eventually, the Australia-New Guinea tectonic plate collided with the Eurasian plate to the north. The collision caused the northern part of the continent to buckle upwards, forming the high and rugged mountains of New Guinea and, by reverse (downwards) buckling, the Torres Strait that now separates the two main landmasses. The collision also pushed up the islands of Wallacea, which served as island 'stepping-stones' that allowed plants from Southeast Asia's rainforests to colonise New Guinea, and some plants from Australia-New Guinea to move into Southeast Asia. The ocean straits between the islands were narrow enough to allow plant dispersal, but served as an effective barrier to exchange of land mammals between Australia-New Guinea and Asia.  The Eurasian plate, shown in green The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate covering Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the continents Europe and Asia) except that it does not cover the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Verkhoyansk Range in East Siberia. ... The Torres Strait - Cape York Peninsula is at the top; several of the Torres Strait Islands can be seen strung out towards Papua New Guinea (North is downwards in this image) The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. ... . ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...

Although New Guinea is the most northerly part of the continent, and could be expected to be the most tropical in climate, the altitude of the New Guinea highlands is such that a great many animals and plants that were once common across Australia-New Guinea now survive only in the tropical highlands (where they are severely threatened by overpopulation pressures). Map of countries by population density (See List of countries by population density. ...

See also

• Australia

Oceania Portal

• Australasia
• Oceania
• Plate tectonics
• Paleoclimatology
• Biogeography

Image File history File links Portal. ... Australasia Australasia is a term variably used to describe a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. ... World map exhibiting a common interpretation of Oceania; other interpretations may vary. ... The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... Paleoclimatology is the study of climate change taken on the scale of the entire history of the Earth. ... Biogeography is the science which deals with patterns of species distribution and the processes that result in such patterns. ...

References

1. ^ Johnson, David Peter (2004). The Geology of Australia. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press, page 12. 
2. ^ Big Bank Shoals of the Timor Sea: An environmental resource atlas. Australian Institute of Marine Science (2001). Retrieved on 2006-08-28.
3. ^ Wirantaprawira, Dr Willy (2003). Republik Indonesia. Dr Willy Wirantaprawira. Retrieved on 2006-08-28.
4. ^ See for example: The island continent. Australia in brief. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australian Government) (2005). Retrieved on 2006-09-21.
5. ^ ^{a b c} Ballard, Chris (1993). "Stimulating minds to fantasy? A critical etymology for Sahul". Sahul in review: Pleistocene archaeology in Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia: p. 19-20, Canberra: Australian National University. ISBN 0-7315-1540-4. 
6. ^ Allen, J.; J. Golson and R. Jones (eds) (1977). Sunda and Sahul: Prehistoric studies in Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Australia. London: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-051250-5. 
7. ^ Filewood, W. (1984). "The Torres connection: Zoogeography of New Guinea". Vertebrate zoogeography in Australasia: p. 1124-1125, Carlisle, W.A.: Hesperian Press. ISBN 0-85905-036-X. 
8. ^ e.g. Flannery, Timothy Fridtjof (1994). The future eaters: An ecological history of the Australasian lands and people. Chatswood, NSW: Reed, pp. 42, 67. ISBN 0-7301-0422-2. 
9. ^ Theroux, Paul (1992). The happy isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-015976-2. 
10. ^ Wareham, Evelyn (September 2002). "From Explorers to Evangelists: Archivists, Recordkeeping, and Remembering in the Pacific Islands". Archival Science 2 (3-4): 187-207. 
11. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2004). The ancestor’s tale: A pilgrimage to the dawn of evolution. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 224. ISBN 0-618-00583-8. 

v • d • e Continents of the world

Africa-Eurasia America Eurasia Oceania Africa Antarctica Asia Australia Europe N. America S. America Geological supercontinents Gondwana · Laurasia · Pangaea · Pannotia · Proto-Gondwana · Proto-Laurasia · Rodinia · Columbia · Kenorland · Ur · Vaalbara The headquarters of the Cambridge University Press, in Trumpington Street, Cambridge. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ... The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is an Australian government department concerned with the relations between Australia and other nations, both in political and economic terms. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is a well-known Australian mammalogist, biologist, writer, Humanist and paleontologist. ... Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), a travelogue about a trip he made by train from Great Britain through Europe and South Asia, then South-East Asia, up through East Asia, as... Clinton Richard Dawkins (born March 26, 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. ... Animated, colour-coded map showing the various continents. ... Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2759x1404, 54 KB) World map: Africa-Eurasia (location) File links The following pages link to this file: Australia Africa Africa-Eurasia Europe North America Template:Continent ... Africa-Eurasia The supercontinent of Africa-Eurasia, or Afro-Eurasia, is the worlds largest land mass and contains around 85% of the human population. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2759x1404, 54 KB) Extracted from CIA World Factbook PDF world map, then rasterized and colored. ... World map showing the Americas CIA political map of the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America[1] and South America with their associated islands and regions. ... File links The following pages link to this file: Eurasia Categories: GFDL images ... Eurasia African-Eurasian aspect of Earth Eurasia is the Earths largest landmass covering about 21215121321km² compared with the Americas (approximately 42,000,000 km²), Africa (approximately 30,000,000 km²), and Antarctica (approximately 13,000,000 km²). Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2759x1404, 54 KB)Oceanias place in the world. ... World map exhibiting a common interpretation of Oceania; other interpretations may vary. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 407 pixel Image in higher resolution (2759 × 1404 pixel, file size: 55 KB, MIME type: image/png) this is a boring map of africa!!!!!!!!!!!! World map depicting Africa; map adapted from PDF world map at CIA World Fact Book File... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 407 pixelsFull resolution (2759 × 1404 pixel, file size: 55 KB, MIME type: image/png) Antarctica is extremely cold, particularly in the winter where the temperature can reach -70 degrees. ... This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Download high resolution version (2759x1404, 38 KB) This country locator map was created by Vardion and is released into the public domain. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2759x1404, 55 KB) link title dkrjfjjfffffffffffffffffffffffffvnguigtailewGFGSgfgfFdsguuggsgsugusGUISHGUIYFGHFDGHEAHRUGIDAFGOFDSOGYFOHGUOFDYHOIYFDSYOGIDHB JKZVXCNBJKGDUGKDFH87IHZDJKLGXHGKVCZHBUIJZUIVBHUIVCYUBHFDZKHUIVCVCYUBYVCUIBXChkGHIDAHAYFDUGFGFDZOIGFDZHLGFDZHJLGFDSZhKLZFDHFXGJFSJGFXJXZJXGFGJXJJJJJJFGFFDFHFDZFHHDHFHDZHFDZHDZHFDHFDDHHHFDFDHZFHGFJZHJAYATHZDGXVJGJTDYHDGHBNDZHFXHZGFDHDZHZDZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG World map depicting Europe; map adapted from PDF world map at CIA World Fact Book File links The following pages link to this file: Australia Africa Asia Antarctica Africa-Eurasia Continent Europe Elias Canetti... World map showing the location of Europe. ... Download high resolution version (2759x1404, 73 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... File links The following pages link to this file: South America User talk:Morwen Category:Continent locator maps Categories: Continent locator maps | GFDL images ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... In geology, a supercontinent is a land mass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. ... Gondwanaland redirects here. ... Laurasia was a supercontinent that most recently existed as a part of the split of the Pangaean supercontinent in the late Mesozoic era. ... For other uses, see Pangaea (disambiguation). ... Pannotia is the name given to a hypothetical supercontinent that existed from about 600 to about 540 mya. ... Proto-Gondwana (first Gondwana), also known as Proto-Gondwanaland was a Middle - Late Proterozoic. ... Proto-Laurasia (first Laurasia) was an ancient supercontinent. ... Depiction of Rodinia at time of initial breakup. ... Kenorland was one of the earliest supercontinents found on Earth. ... Ur is the name of the first known continent that probably formed 3 billion years ago in the early Archean Eon. ... The Earths first supercontinent thought to have existed is Vaalbara. ... Historical continents Arctica · Asiamerica · Atlantica · Avalonia · Baltica · Congo craton · Euramerica · Kalahari Desert · Kazakhstania · Laurentia · Siberia · South China · Ur Animated, colour-coded map showing the various continents. ... Arctica was an ancient continent approximately 2. ... Asiamerica was a large island formed from the Laurasian landmass and separated by shallow continental seas from Eurasia to the West and eastern North America to the East. ... Atlantica was an ancient continent. ... Avalonia was a paleomicrocontinent also known as a Terrane. ... Baltica (green) Baltica is a Late Proterozoic-Early Palaeozoic continent that now includes the East European craton of northwestern Eurasia. ... The Congo craton, covered by the Palaeozoic-to-recent Congo basin, is an ancient Precambrian craton that with four others (the Kaapvaal, Zimbabwe, Tazania, and West African cratons) makes up the modern continent of Africa. ... Euramerica (also known as Laurussia) was a minor supercontinent created in the Devonian by the collision of Laurentia and Baltica (Scandian Orogeny). ... The Kalahari Desert is a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in southern Kgalagadi Africa extending 900,000 km² (562,500 sq. ... Kazakhstania, also known as the Kazakhstan Block, is a small continental region in the interior of Asia. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Siberia (Sometimes called Angara) is the craton located in the heart of the region of Siberia. ... South China continent, also known as South China craton (or the South Chinese craton) was an ancient continent (craton) that contained todays South and Southeast China (named after), Indochina, and parts of Southeast Asia (ie. ... Ur is the name of the first known continent that probably formed 3 billion years ago in the early Archean Eon. ... Submerged continents Kerguelen Plateau · Zealandia Animated, colour-coded map showing the various continents. ... The Kerguelen Plateau is an underwater volcanic ridge—the largest in the Indian Ocean, and one of the largest in the world. ... Topography of Zealandia. ...     Mythical and theorised continents     Atlantis · Lemuria · Mu · Terra Australis A mythical place is a place that does not really exist but is accepted folklore or speculation that it might exist or might have existed in earlier times but its actual location is now lost. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical lost land variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. ... Underwater structures controversially identified as remnants of Mu, near Yonaguni, Japan Mu is the name of a lost land, or hypothetical vanished continent, that was once located in the Pacific Ocean but is now (like Atlantis and Lemuria, with which it is sometimes identified) believed to have sunk beneath the... Terra Australis is the large continent on the bottom of the map Terra Australis (also: Terra Australis Incognita, Latin for the unknown land of the South) was an imaginary continent, appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century. ... Possible future continents Pangaea Ultima · Amasia Pangaea Ultima (also Neopangaea, or Pangaea II) is a possible future supercontinent configuration, which, consistent with the supercontinent cycle, may occur within the next 250 million years. ... There is a concern the topic of this article may be unencyclopedic. ...