We’re proud Canadians here at Curiocity. So when Canadian scientists make a crazy discovery, you already know we’re going to be excited about it. Well, guess what the latest is… Just kidding, you don’t have to guess. Cause we’re here to tell you!

Basically, it turns out that an ancient continent was larger than anyone thought it was. 10% larger, to be exact. The island was known as the North Atlantic Craton. And it ran from Scotland to North America. Turns out our friends across the pond weren’t always across a pond. Wild, right? Well, the island broke up around 150 million years ago, so it’s pretty crazy that they’re still making discoveries about it today.

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ancient continent

So how’d they figure it out? They analyzed rock samples, of course. The samples were dug up during a dig for diamonds. So next time you’re admiring your favourite necklace or earrings, you can be reminded of this stellar discovery.

The specific rock is called kimberlite. And it was formed 200 km underground. We usually keep things light here, but that is pretty darn deep. Haha, see what we did there? Cause it’s deep. Like underground. Anywayyyyy…

The discovery was made by geologists at the University of British Columbia (yay for Canadian scientists). And you can read even more about it in the Journal of Petrology.