Sensation! Under the island of Mauritius found the ancient continent!

The island of Mauritius is located 900 km from Madagascar, and its coast is washed by the Indian Ocean. By geological standards, the rocks and stones of the island are quite young: they are only about 9 million years old. But not so long ago, scientists managed to make a sensational discovery! They argue that so “young” are only the upper layers of volcanic rocks, and much more impressive structures, whose age reaches 2.5-3 billion years, are hidden under them. Researchers suggest that these geological formations are part of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana.

Experts were able to determine the true age of the island from the zircon crystals found here. The fact is that this mineral contains a radioactive element, uranium. Radioisotope analysis helped determine the age of the crystals: they formed 2.5-3 billion years ago.

"The fact that we found such old zircon samples proves that the rocks at the base of Mauritius are very ancient. They could only be born on the continent," said Professor Eshvol.

A rainbow spot in the center of the frame is a large zircon crystal. The light bar on the left is feldspar.

It is worth noting that other scientists have previously found zircon in Mauritius. But its particles were so small and small that researchers considered them brought to the island from other parts of the planet by hurricanes or tourists. Now the situation has cleared up.

200 million years ago, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica formed one integral continent called Gondwana. Then these territories began to separate from each other, and between them the Indian Ocean arose. Small parts of the supercontinent were under water, and one of the fragments was completely covered with lava. It is this island that we call Mauritius today.