microcontinentn.
/ˌmʌɪkrə(ʊ)ˈkɒntᵻnənt/, U.S. /ˌmaɪkroʊˈkɑnt(ə)nənt/ Geology.
An oceanic, often submarine, plateau that is considered to be an isolated fragment of continental crust.
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microcontinent1965
1965 B. C. Heezen & M. Tharp in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 258 98 We may, of course, in referring to these aseismic ridges as micro-continents, infer that they are either (1) fragments of former continents, or (2) nuclei of growing continents.
1966 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Oceanogr. 373/2 Madagascar is clearly a microcontinent.
1970 Nature 13 June 1044/2 We suggest that the East Canaries block is a microcontinent or sialic continental fragment detached from the African margin.
1991 New Scientist 13 July 18/3 The high granitic islands of the Seychelles are the mountain tops of a submerged ‘microcontinent’, once part of the supercontinent known as Gondwanaland.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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