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Houston Matters

Houston Researcher Studies Zealandia — The (Mostly) Underwater Continent

A Rice University professor was among a group of researchers studying a massive landmass submerged in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

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There's a continent that's nearly 2 million square miles, yet most people have never heard of it. No surprise, since more than 90 percent of this huge landmass is submerged under the Pacific Ocean.

It's called Zealandia, and, in 2017, Rice University professor Jerry Dickens was part of a drilling expedition to better understand this continent.

At the time of the expedition, Houston Matters producer Maggie Martin connected with Dickens via satellite from his research vessel in the Pacific just as his group of researchers was beginning to drill at their first location.