Publication Date:
2023-01-02
Description:
We propose a new, sunken continent beneath the North Atlantic Ocean that we
name Icelandia. It may comprise blocks of full-thickness continental lithosphere or
extended, magma-inflated continental layers that form hybrid continental-oceanic
lithosphere. It underlies the Greenland-Iceland-Faroe Ridge and the Jan Mayen
microplate complex, covering an area of ~600,000 km2. It is contiguous with the Faroe
Plateau and known parts of the submarine continental rifted margin offshore Britain.
If these are included in a “Greater Icelandia,” the entire area is ~1,000,000 km2 in
size. The existence of Icelandia needs to be tested. Candidate approaches include mag-
netotelluric surveying in Iceland; ultralong, full-crust-penetrating reflection profiling
along the length of the Greenland-Iceland-Faroe Ridge; dating zircons collected in Ice-
land; deep drilling; and reappraisal of the geology of Iceland. Some of these methods
could be applied to other candidate sunken continents that are common in the oceans.
Type:
Book chapter
,
NonPeerReviewed
Format:
text
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