For a long time, geologists have been fascinated by a missing piece of Earth's history-a lost continent called Argoland. Around 155 million years ago, the 5,000-kilometer continent broke off from Western Australia and began drifting (漂) , leaving behind a basin deep below the ocean known as the Argo Abyssal Plain.
But where did Argoland actually go?
The seabed structure suggests that the continent drifted northwestward and ended up Southeast Asia. But surprisingly, there is no large continent hidden beneath those islands, only small continental fragments (碎片) surrounded by ancient oceanic basins. Using this theory, geologists at Utrecht University discovered that Argoland hadn't really disappeared but survived as a "very extended and fragmented collection" under the islands to the east of Indonesia.
Unlike other continents like Africa and South America, which broke neatly into two pieces, Argoland split into many smaller fragments that were dispersed, which made it difficult for scientists to locate and study the continent's geological features. However, with advanced technology and the discovery, scientists can now piece them together.
Tracking the continents is vital for understanding processes like the evolution of biodiversity. It could help explain something known as the mysterious Wallace line, which is an imaginary boundary that separates mammals, birds, and even early human species in Southeast Asian islands. The boundary has puzzled scientists because of how clearly it separates the island's wildlife. To the west of the line are placental mammals like apes and elephants. But these are almost completely absent to the east, where you can find marsupials and cockatoos—animals typically associated with Australia. Researchers have theorized that this may be because Argoland carried its own wildlife away from Australia before it crashed into Southeast Asia, which helps explain why different species are found in different nations.
The story of Argoland is not one of complete disappearance but of transformation. As the world continues to evolve, this lost continent serves as a powerful symbol of the fragility of life on this planet, and a reminder of the importance of respecting and protecting the world that we live in.
