Rodinia
Land on Earth was once gathered together in a supercontinent known as Rodinia.
Although they are now separated by thousands of kilometers of ocean, India was once located next to Madagascar.
After studying grains of sand from the beaches of Mauritius, a team of researchers came to the conclusion that they have found evidence of a bit of continent - known as a microcontinent - that was once tucked between the two.
While the grains dated back to a volcanic eruption that happened about nine million years ago, they contained minerals that were much older, the zircon dated to between 1,970 and 600 million years ago, and the team concluded that they were remnants of ancient land that had been dragged up to the surface of the island during a volcanic eruption.
They named the microcontinent Mauritia after the island of Mauritius, where the discovery was made.
Once land started to drift towards their current positions, Mauritia was no more
After studying grains of sand from the beaches of Mauritius, a team of researchers came to the conclusion that they have found evidence of a bit of continent - known as a microcontinent - that was once tucked between the two.
While the grains dated back to a volcanic eruption that happened about nine million years ago, they contained minerals that were much older, the zircon dated to between 1,970 and 600 million years ago, and the team concluded that they were remnants of ancient land that had been dragged up to the surface of the island during a volcanic eruption.
They named the microcontinent Mauritia after the island of Mauritius, where the discovery was made.
Once land started to drift towards their current positions, Mauritia was no more
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