Super deep drilling intends to engage in Public Japanese Agency of geological and marine Sciences and technology (JAMSTEC).
Experts plan in two years to begin drilling on the continent, with the conditional name “Zealand”, which sank 23 million years ago. The drilling will be performed using unique research vessel “Chikyu”, designed for seabed intervention works.
Vessel “Chikyu” in 2014 set a world record, drilled in the bottom of the Pacific the well at a depth of 3058 meters.
The mission hope that drilling operations will help to more accurately define the sizes of the sunken continent, and also to clarify the reasons for its immersion and the pace.
Recall that New Zealand is remaining above the ocean surface part of the sunken continent. This country accounts for only 5-7% of its area. A large part of the continent with a size of about 4.5 million sq km lies at a depth of about one thousand meters from the surface of the ocean.
