We need to find antipodal versions of Fred and Carrie for a new TV series.
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.
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.
No koalas in NZ. Try a kakapo instead.
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.
I wish they’d just go ahead and make it official. Kiwi’s have far too long been incontinent.
Well, that Depends…
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).
They’re wonderful. I worked with them when I worked with the New Zealand Wildlife Service in the 1980s.
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, one of the very few airports (the only airport?) in the world with a railway crossing the runway.
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.
Yes.
Yes, but with typical Kiwi modesty I would never dream of mentioning it.
There’s no such serious thing as a “geological continent” - the continent concept isn’t really geologically meaningful at all. Plates and microplates are useful concepts. Likewise cratons, 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…