Discovering Argoland: The Lost Continent Beneath Southeast Asia's Jungles

Researchers have uncovered evidence of a lost continent that lies hidden beneath jungles in Southeast Asia, according to a study. This intriguing discovery has sparked interest among geoscientists, who believe that around 155 million years ago, a significant portion of land broke off from northwestern Australia and drifted away. The evidence supporting this theory is the "void" left behind—an underwater basin known as the Argo Abyssal Plain, located deep below the ocean off the coast of northwestern Australia.

The structure of the seafloor indicates that the proposed continent, named Argoland after the abyssal plain, must have drifted northwest, ultimately arriving at the location of today's islands in Southeast Asia. The proposed Argoland was expected to extend more than 3,000 miles from western Australia to north of Papua New Guinea, leading researchers to initially anticipate finding a solid landmass. However, only small fragments of land have been discovered in the region, raising questions about the existence of a larger continent.

Geologists have speculated that these fragments might belong to Argoland, but they appear to be only a fraction of the continent's size. Furthermore, the fragments are surrounded by remnants of oceanic basins that date back approximately 205 million years—much older than the rock record found in the oceanic crust of the Argo Abyssal Plain. This suggests that the fragments may have drifted away from Australia significantly earlier than Argoland's proposed split from the continent. This new understanding opens up exciting avenues for research and discussion about the geological history of our planet.