Satellite Data Reveals Remnants of Long-Lost Continents Beneath Antarctica

Several long-lost continents hidden beneath Antarctica have been revealed by data collected from a "dead" satellite.

Researchers, using data from the European Space Agency's Gravity Field and Ocean Circulation Explore, were able to map the lithosphere – the tectonically active layer of the Earth that includes the crust and mantle. 

The satellite collected large amounts of data and images from the Earth's gravity field before it was to crash back to Earth five years ago.

"These gravity images are revolutionizing our ability to study the least understood continent on Earth: Antarctica," co-author of the study Fausto Ferraccioli, science leader of geology and geophysics at the British Antarctic Survey, said in a press release.

The images collected reveal cratons, which are large, stable blocks of the earth's crust and remnants of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana.

A video produced by the research team reconstructs the separation of Antarctica from Gondwana, which at one time was part of an even larger supercontinent known as Pangaea.

"We can now glimpse ancient parts of the Earth’s continental crust," Ferraccioli said. "In East Antarctica, we see an exciting mosaic of geological features that reveal fundamental similarities and differences between the crust beneath Antarctica and other continents that it was joined to until 160 million years ago.”  

(MORE: Existence of 3-Billion-Year-Old 'Lost Continent' Beneath Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius Confirmed)

Last year, researchers confirmed the findings of a 2013 study that uncovered evidence of the 3-billion-year-old Gondwana beneath the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. 

The researchers of the 2013 study believed a fragment of the ancient supercontinent was left behind when it split and formed the Indian Ocean. 

The researchers for the study published this week noted that the "combination of seismological and satellite gravity gradient imaging has significant potential to enhance our knowledge of Earth’s structure."

This is especially true, the researchers added, about “remote frontiers like the Antarctic continent, where even basic knowledge of lithospheric scale features remains incomplete.”