Landmass
A landmass, or land mass, is a large region or area of land that is in one piece and not broken up by oceans.[1][2] The term is often used to refer to lands surrounded by an ocean or sea, such as a continent or a large island.[3][4] In the field of geology, a landmass is a defined section of continental crust extending above sea level.[5]
Continents are often thought of as distinct landmasses and may include any islands that are part of the associated continental shelf. When multiple continents form a single contiguous land connection, the connected continents may be viewed as a single landmass. Earth's largest landmasses are (starting with largest):[6][7][8]
- land hemisphere, comprising more than half of Earth's landmass)
- Americas (main landmass of the geo-region of the same name and its continental parts North and South America; comprising most of the landmass of the Western Hemisphere)
- Antarctica (main landmass of the geo-region and continent of the same name)
- Mainland Australia (main landmass of the geo-region Oceania, its sub-region Australasia, the continent Australia and the country Australia)
See also
- Coastline paradox
- Continent
- Boundaries between the continents of Earth
- Island
- Landform
- Mainland
- Supercontinent
References
- ^ "Landmass". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge.org Dictionary. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ "Landmass". Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780197561218 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-1-119-30189-9.
- ^ "Landmass". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
- ^ Dempsey, Caitlin (2013-10-15). "Geography Facts about the World's Continents". Geography Realm. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
- ISBN 978-0-520-28989-5 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-0-8160-7229-3. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
And since Africa and Asia are connected at the Suez Peninsula, Europe, Africa, and Asia are sometimes combined as Afro-Eurasia or Eurafrasia. The International Olympic Committee's official flag, containing [...] the single continent of America (North and South America being connected as the Isthmus of Panama).