Context: Geologists recently discovered Argoland, a landmass that detached from modern-day western Australia 155 million years ago. 

About Argoland

• It was a lost continent that once broke off from northwestern Australia 155 million years ago.

• The elusive, 3,106-mile stretch was once an integral part of the supercontinent Gondwana.

• It disintegrated as tectonic forces stretched the landmass out and drove it away from the rest of the continent before scattering it across Southeast Asia.

• It had initially drifted northwest, where several Southeast Asian islands currently exist today.

• But unlike India, which broke off the ancient supercontinent Gondwana 120 million years ago and still forms an intact landmass today, Argoland splintered into fragments.

• These fragments, reaching their destinations simultaneously, formed an archipelago rather than a unified landmass.

• Argoland, now dispersed as an archipelago separated by ocean basins, contributed to the formation of several Southeast Asian islands.

Key Facts about Gondwana

• Gondwana was a supercontinent.

• It broke up during the Jurassic period (180 million years ago).

• Gondwana existed from the Neoproterozoic period, that is, around 550 million years ago.

• During the Eocene period, Drake passage was opened up separating Antarctica and South America.

• The continent of Gondwana was named by the Austrian scientist Eduard Suess, after the Gondwana region of central India which is derived from Sanskrit for ‘forest of the Gonds’.

• As per the earlier definition, Gondwana was not considered as a supercontinent, as the landmasses of Siberia, Laurentia, Baltica were separated from it.

• During the paleozoic era, the largest piece of continental crust was the Gondwana, it was about 1/5th of the earth’s surface.

• Gondwana merged with Euramerica, during the carboniferous period, to form the larger supercontinent called Pangea.

• However, during the mesozoic era, Pangea and Gondwana broke up.

• Two-thirds of today’s continental area is made up of Gondwana which includes Indian subcontinent, Australia, Antarctica, Arabia, Zealandia, Africa, and South America.