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Landmass

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"Land mass" redirects here. For a list of land surface areas of the world's political entities, see List of countries and dependencies by area.
For Steve Roach's album, see Landmass (album).
An image of Antarctica differentiating its landmass (dark grey) from its ice shelves (minimum extent, light grey, and maximum extent, white)

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]

  1. Afro-Eurasia (main landmass of the geoscheme region of the same name and its continental parts Africa and Eurasia - or Europe and Asia; the center of Earth's land hemisphere, comprising more than half of Earth's landmass)
  2. 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)
  3. Antarctica (main landmass of the geo-region and continent of the same name)
  4. Mainland Australia (main landmass of the geo-region Oceania, its sub-region Australasia, the continent Australia and the country Australia)

Continential landmasses[edit]

This section is an excerpt from List of islands by area § Continental landmasses.[edit]

Continental landmasses are not usually classified as islands despite being completely surrounded by water.[Note 1] However, because the definition of continent varies between geographers, the Americas are sometimes defined as two separate continents while mainland Australia is sometimes defined as an island as well as a continent. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this list, mainland Australia along with the other major landmasses have been listed as continental landmasses for comparison. The figures are approximations and are for the four major continental landmasses only.[Note 2] The artificial Panama and Suez canals are disregarded, as they are not natural waters that separate the continents.

Rank Continental landmass[Note 3] Area Nation(s)
(km2) (sq mi)
1 Afro-Eurasia 79,810,726[Note 4] 30,815,094

126 countries[Note 8]
7 de facto states[Note 10]

2 Americas 37,699,623[Note 11] 14,555,906

22 countries[Note 13]
French Guiana[Note 14]

3 Antarctica[Note 15] 12,272,800[Note 16] 4,738,600 None[Note 18]
4 Australia[Note 19] 7,591,608[Note 20] 2,931,136 Australia
Dymaxion world map with continental landmasses (I,II,III,IV) and largest islands (1–30) roughly to scale

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Landmass". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge.org Dictionary. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Landmass". Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  3. ^ Cook, Peter J.; Carleton, Chris M., eds. (9 November 2000). Continental Shelf Limits: The Scientific and Legal Interface. Oxford University Press. p. 298. doi:10.1093/oso/9780195117820.001.0001. ISBN 9780197561218 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Nijman, Jan; Muller, Peter O.; de Blij, H.J. (2017). "Introduction". Regions: Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts (17th ed.). Wiley. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-119-30189-9.
  5. ^ "Landmass". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  6. ^ Dempsey, Caitlin (2013-10-15). "Geography Facts about the World's Continents". Geography Realm. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  7. ^ Dunn, Ross E.; Mitchell, Laura J.; Ward, Kerry (23 August 2016). The New World History: A Field Guide for Teachers and Researchers. University of California Press. pp. 232–. ISBN 978-0-520-28989-5 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ R.W. McColl, ed. (2005). "continents". Encyclopedia of World Geography. Vol. 1. Facts on File, Inc. p. 215. 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).
  9. ^ USGS – Global Islands Explorer
  10. ^ Stephen Hawking; Lucy Hawking (9 January 2020). "Earth: What's It Made Of?". Unlocking the Universe. p. 62. ISBN 9780241418864.
  11. ^ GNS Science – Earth's 8th Continent
  12. ^ 3D visualisations of the Earth2014 SUR, BED, TBI and RET topography layers over the Southern Hemisphere, centred to Antarctica
  13. ^ Global warming and the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Michael Oppenheimer, 1998 (see map of Antarctica showing regions where bedrock is below sea level)
  14. ^ Jonathan L. Bamber; River; Vermeersen; LeBrocq (May 2009). "Reassessment of the Potential Sea-Level Rise from a Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet". Science. 324 (59295): 901–903. Bibcode:2009Sci...324..901B. doi:10.1126/science.1169335. PMID 19443778. S2CID 11083712.
  15. ^ "Antarctica in Context" (PDF). Landsat Image Mosaic Of Antarctica. United States Geological Survey.
  16. ^ "Joshua Calder's World Island Info – Continent or Island?". Worldislandinfo.com. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  17. ^ "Australia in Brief - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade". Dfat.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2003-08-20. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
  18. ^ "Area of Australia – States and Territories". Geoscience Australia. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2021.


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