2 Sep 2017

Dr Stuart Henrys & Dr Chris Hollis - Earth's Eighth Continent

From Saturday Morning, 9:06 am on 2 September 2017
Dr Stuart Henrys

Dr Stuart Henrys Photo: Supplied

Dr Chris Hollis

Dr Chris Hollis Photo: Supplied

GNS Science geologists and geophysicists have added an eighth continent called Zealandia to the world map this year. At 4.9 million square kilometres - roughly the same size as India - it's the world's smallest continent, and 94 per cent of it is underwater. GNS Science and partners are embarking on a longterm programme to  to probe the seafloor of the continent, with a string of six voyages just started under the banner of the International Ocean Discovery Program. GNS' Dr Stuart Henrys currently leads New Zealand's consortium of institutions that comprise membership of IODP and has served on its Science Evaluation Panel. Dr Chris Hollis is a paleontologist and paleoclimate scientist who led New Zealand's efforts to join the 23-nation International Ocean Discovery Program in 2008, participated in an expedition in 2012 and is one of the proponents on the current expedition in the north Tasman Sea.