Can a continent lose its continental status?

Question

There's got to be some measures that determine what constitutes a continent. And if so, then there's got be some measures by which a continent can lose its status as a continent.

Answer 1

While the term is fairly arbitrary (is Greenland only an island or is it a continent, a debate that has raged for a long time), in the short run no.

Thanks to continental drift, over the course of millions of years yes. The continent of Gondwanaland no longer exists, it split apart to form Africa, India, Australia, South America, and Antarctica.

Answer 2

It's a matter of convention, as shown by the fact that we count Eurasia as two continents, not one. And depending on why we are using the word, we sometimes describe North and South America as two separate continents and sometimes we don't. But you are quite right; if enough of a continent could mysteriously sink beneath the water,  at some point it would lose its continental status.

Answer 3

Since Pluto lost planet status, I guess a continent could lose continent status, if the definition were to change or be standardized.

Answer 4

If enough countries were in favor or it, Europe could become Eurasia, N. America and S. America could become America.  Greenland could be added.  Australia could become Oceania.  It would have to be through the political process with scientific backing.

Answer 5

There is no exact definition of what a continent is (in geographic theory, a place is often defined by it's boundaries, but it can be proven that Asia has no boundaries!).  So, without an exact definition, it's not likely that a continent can lose "status".

The analogy with Pluto was that astronomers decided to (1) create a definition of planet, and (2) made all kinds of bureaucratic modifications to that definition.  However, geographers have never made a definition of what a continent is.  Geographers would argue that a continent is a construct of the human mind.  Additionally, geologists would say that continents are always changing over time as they move around, merging and splitting into new landmasses.  For these reasons, continents are not "fixed", and so cannot really be defined with certainty.  How can you say if something "is" or "is not" if you cannot make a category for it?

But, here are the facts:

There are four large geologic landmasses:  two supercontinents (Afro-Eurasia, and America) and two smaller continents (Australia and Antarctica).  Culturally, these are divided into seven continents (human mind constructs).

So basically, the rule of thumb is based on area.  Greenland is the largest island, but is still only one-third the area of Australia (the smallest continent).  However, Australia is three-fourths the size of Europe, and three-fifths the size of Antarctica.  So, there really is a valid reason for making Australia a continent (and not an island) but Greenland an island (and not a continent).  So, Australia probably won't lose continent status and Greenland won't gain it.

Anyway, about the only catch to all this is that most of Antarctica that is above sea level is ice.  And that ice is starting to melt faster than ever.  It is conceivable that in a few centuries, all the ice could be gone and we find that Antarctica is mostly a bunch of islands.  Depending on how much the lithosphere rebounds from the lost ice, and how much sea level rises, the actual continent there may rise from the waters or may stay submerged, leaving only islands.  This is about the only possibility during the human time scale for "losing" a continent.  Oh, and of course (like Pluto) bureaucrats could do away with continents altogether if it makes their paperwork easier.