microcontinents
Small landmass remnants
Microcontinents are fragments of continental crust that have broken away from larger landmasses and now exist as isolated pieces surrounded by oceanic crust.
Madagascar, Zealandia (mostly submerged beneath New Zealand), and the Seychelles are examples.
These geological orphans form through rifting—the same process that splits continents apart—but remain too small to qualify as continents themselves.
Submerged continental fragment
- MadagascarAfrican island republic
- cratonStable ancient continental core
- terraneFault-bounded crustal fragment
- riftingGeological spreading apart
lithosphere · crust · subduction · accretion · orogeny · suture · basalt · granite
Submerged continental fragment
- bathymetrySubaqueous topographical measurement
- submarineUnderwater naval craft
- drownedDied by submersion
- seafloorOcean's solid base
sediment · volcanic · shallow sea · erosion · sea level · topography · mapping
Ancient southern supercontinent
- PangaeaPrehistoric unified landmass
- supercontinentCombined planetary landmass
- TethysGreek sea titaness
- ColumbiaAmerica personified, or its namesakes
Ur · Archean · Proterozoic · reconstruction · dispersal · assembly · fossil evidence
Zealandia
Submerged continental fragment
- MadagascarAfrican island republic
- cratonStable ancient continental core
- terraneFault-bounded crustal fragment
rifting · lithosphere · crust · subduction · accretion · orogeny · suture · basalt · granite · hotspot
Zealandia
Submerged continental fragment
- bathymetrySubaqueous topographical measurement
- submarineUnderwater naval craft
- drownedDied by submersion
seafloor · sediment · volcanic · shallow sea · erosion · sea level · topography · mapping
Gondwana
Ancient southern supercontinent
- PangaeaPrehistoric unified landmass
- supercontinentCombined planetary landmass
- TethysGreek sea titaness
Columbia · Ur · Archean · Proterozoic · reconstruction · dispersal · assembly · fossil evidence
microcontinentscontinents
Earth's largest landmasses
supercontinents · Pangaea · Eurasia · Africa · Gondwana