# Zealandia, anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 17, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036 "2017-02-17T12:10:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/21 "2017-10-05T03:14:51Z")
We need to find antipodal versions of Fred and Carrie for a new TV series. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/22 "2017-10-05T04:20:39Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > Iceland already is a continent > Its called north america Iceland is not part of the North American continent, by any standard definition of a continent. For one thing, it’s not made of continental crust. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/23 "2017-10-05T04:52:37Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > It’s not even “a” plate. It’s at the joint of two plates. See the standard plate [map](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics#/media/File:Plates_tect2_en.svg) of the planet. > > Note that “Filipinia”, “Arabia” and “Central America-Caribbia” have better claims to being continents. > > Just as India’s a subcontinent and not a continent, the criteria for continenthood is a lot stronger than what these folks are blabbing about. > [@Rucksinator](#): > > I found this much older thread ( [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=660315&highlight=Zealandia](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=660315&highlight=Zealandia) ) where people used tectonic plates to justify splitting continents up, such as considering India a subcontinent of Asia/Eurasia. But if we go down that route (including landmasses that are submerged), then the definition of continent is simply tectonic plate. > > Can someone explain this to me, please? The traditional continents are not generally congruent with tectonic plates. Two of the largest continents, Eurasia and North America, are made up of parts of multiple plates; and in the case of Eurasia, part of it is on the Eurasian plate. Tectonic plates don’t really define continents. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/24 "2017-10-05T04:55:06Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Let’s celebrate Zealandia! But how? Eat kiwi fruit? Drink beer? Hug a koala? Maybe do all three of those while running around the house naked? No koalas in NZ. Try a [kakapo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY) instead. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/25 "2017-10-05T08:52:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The traditional continents are not generally congruent with tectonic plates. Two of the largest continents, Eurasia and North America, are made up of parts of multiple plates; and in the case of Eurasia, part of it is on the Eurasian plate. Tectonic plates don’t really define continents. There’s actually a small bit of Eurasia on the North American plate. Go look at map of plate boundaries and you’ll see that the NA-Eurasia boundary doesn’t go through the Bering Strait, but rather somewhat further west. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/26 "2017-10-05T20:54:45Z")
I wish they’d just go ahead and make it official. Kiwi’s have far too long been incontinent. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/27 "2017-10-05T21:31:00Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > I wish they’d just go ahead and make it official. Kiwi’s have far too long been incontinent. Well, that Depends… ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/28 "2017-10-05T22:05:56Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > There’s actually a small bit of Eurasia on the North American plate. Go look at map of plate boundaries and you’ll see that the NA-Eurasia boundary doesn’t go through the Bering Strait, but rather somewhat further west. Actually, I meant to say “in the case of Eurasia, part of it is on the North American plate.” It’s not a “small bit,” either. It’s probably close to the size of India, and half the size of Australia (accounting for distortion in the map projection). Eurasia is composed of between four and nine (or more) separate plates depending on how you count them, and North America of at least three (four if the Panama microplate is considered separate). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/29 "2017-10-05T22:08:10Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > No koalas in NZ. Try a [kakapo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY) instead. They’re wonderful. I worked with them when I worked with the New Zealand Wildlife Service in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/30 "2017-10-06T00:33:14Z")
Let’s all celebrate with a Dopefest at Gisborne, New Zealand. We’ll charter a plane and fly into Gisborne Airport, where we can meet a train to take us into town. [Gisborne Airport](http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/08/gisborne-airport-runway-with-railway.html), one of the very few airports (the only airport?) in the world with a railway crossing the runway. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/31 "2017-10-18T01:14:02Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The traditional continents are not generally congruent with tectonic plates. Two of the largest continents, Eurasia and North America, are made up of parts of multiple plates; and in the case of Eurasia, part of it is on the Eurasian plate. Tectonic plates don’t really define continents. The traditional continents are congruent with the traditional continents. Trying to match them up with anything else is a mug’s game. Exactly like how the seven seas are simply the seven seas, and there’s no underlying feature of oceanography which defines them. They’ve always been more cultural and poetic than anything else, a prop for the people who prattle on about East and West and “somewhere’s east of Suez” and how the world’s gone to Hell ever since we started letting _those people_ in. Taking it seriously is a mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/32 "2017-10-18T02:04:28Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > So any Kiwis here? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/33 "2017-10-18T03:44:59Z")
Yes, but with typical Kiwi modesty I would never dream of mentioning it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036/34 "2017-10-18T10:15:13Z")
There’s no such serious thing as a “geological continent” - the continent concept isn’t really geologically meaningful at all. [Plates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent#/media/File:Plates_tect2_en.svg) and microplates are useful concepts. Likewise [cratons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craton), shields and platforms. I mean, if it makes the Kiwis feel better about themselves vs Australia, sure, let them have it. But then, I’m agitating for recognition for [Kerguelen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerguelen_Plateau)… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zealandia-anyone/780036.md?page=1)