Zealandia continent if it were above sea level
Animation of the rotating Earth, showing the continent Zealandia next to modern-day Australia, as if it were above sea level. Zealandia is now largely submerged apart from New Zealand, New Caledonia and some small islands. The small continent broke off Gondwana around 84 million years ago, in the Cretaceous period. It is thought to have been completely submerged by 23 million years ago, before the existing land broke the surface again. The submerged continental crust extends northwest and southeast from New Zealand.