Which is smallest continent? – IILSS-International institute for Law of the Sea Studies

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What Makes a Continent a Continent?

IILSS 22nd June 2022Are there 8 continents or 7?Are there 8 or 9 continents?Are there officially 8 continents?Do people live in Antarctica?Do people live in the North Pole?How many country are in Asia?Is Antarctica a continent?Is Greenland a continent?Is New Zealand on a continent?Is there a continent underwater?Is Zealandia the 8th continent?What are 5 countries in Australia?What are the 7 continents and its countries?What continent is Russia?What is the 2nd largest continent?What is the 8th ocean?What is the 9th continent?What is the biggest island?What is the coldest continent on Earth?What is the oldest continent?What is the youngest continent in the world?Which continent is biggest?Which is smallest continent?Who named the continents?Why Australia is a continent?Why Australia is not an island?Why is Oceania a continent?Why is Zealandia not a continent?

According to a 2017 paper published in the Geological Society of America’s journal, GSA Today, “The ‘Glossary of Geology’ defines a continent as ‘one of the Earth’s major landmasses, including both dry land and continental shelves.’ It is generally agreed that continents have all the following attributes: (1) high elevation relative to regions floored by oceanic crust; (2) a broad range of siliceous igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks; (3) thicker crust and lower seismic velocity structure than oceanic crustal regions; and (4) well-defined limits around a large enough area to be considered a continent rather than a microcontinent or continental fragment… To our knowledge, the last point — how ‘major’ a piece of continental crust has to be to be called a continent — is almost never discussed.”