A Geological Basis for Making Territorial Claims?

By Ambassador David L. Carden

A multitude of territorial claims are being made throughout the world today, including in the South China Sea. This satirical piece asks important questions regarding the validity of those claims. The names and events it describes are invented, other than the references to real Prime Ministers. Any similarities to real people and events is purely accidental.

New Delhi: May 1, 2023

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India announced at a press conference today that he has instructed the Indian Attorney General to file a claim for the two underwater fragments of the ancient super continent, Gondwana, discovered in international waters one thousand kilometers west of Australia, at a depth of 15,000 feet. 

"They're ours," said Modi. "These continental fragments once were part of Mother India. After our Homeland split from Australia, these two stony bits were left behind. We have a clear, uncontested, unambiguous, historical claim to them," he added.

Scientists are agreed that the fragments once were attached to Gondwana, a super continent that included what are now India, Australia and Antarctica. Disclosure of the discovery of the fragments was made in an article in "The Ancient Earth" by Dr. Reginald Stevens of the University of Brisbane's Earth and Life Sciences Department.    

In his article, Dr. Stevens reports how 130 million years ago "Gondwana rifted. It came apart. India broke away from it 80 million years ago. Australia did the same 40 million years later. Antarctica stayed put. But it isn't yet clear just when and how the two newly discovered fragments ended up where they did."

But India thinks it's clear enough. "Our geologists have been studying the fragments and have determined they belong to us," said P.M. Modi. "We share sediments," he added.

Modi has asked the Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha, to provide funding to colonize the undersea remnants as soon as possible. "I expect the Lok Sabha to declare the two areas the 29th and 30th states of India," reported Modi. “Plans are being made to build ocean platforms where volunteers can fish and distill their own sea water. We're already hearing from patriotic volunteers who want to go," the P.M. added.

Others say not so fast.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called a press conference yesterday to report that Dr. Stevens has been conducting research on the sediments for several months.

"Dr. Steven's research makes it clear that the geological strata of Western Australia are identical to those taken from the two undersea cratons that are the lost fragments of Gondwana. They also are much closer to Australia. For this reason, we think Australia's claim is superior to India's," he asserted. "India left Gondwana first. These two continental fragments remained behind with Australia for another 40 million years. They were then and ever will be part of Australia," Albanese added.

Some are claiming Modi and Albanese are playing politics. Many are wondering, given the uncertainty, if India and Australia will try to resolve the issue bilaterally, or prefer to leave the dispute unresolved for political purposes. Nationalists in both countries have been stirred up by the issue, distracting them from more pressing concerns.

Meanwhile a new claimant, Antarctica, has emerged, which makes the matter a multilateral affair. Sir Brownell Bowles has been appointed by the United Nations as Guardian Ad Litem for the fledgling and unpopulated continent.

"We're looking into the matter" said Sir Brownell. "If it belongs to Antarctica, we'll pursue its claim vigorously. On the face of it, Antarctica's claim is superior. India, Australia, and the fragments at issue, all were part of Antarctica. Based on their location, it's indisputable that the fragments departed Antarctica's shore long after India and Australia moved away. They’re the remains of Antarctica's youngest children, speaking geologically, of course."

Some geologists agree that Antarctica's claim might be the strongest, but without a government to make it, it may be hard to find the funds necessary for Sir Brownell to litigate the matter. However, Russia has offered its help, no doubt hoping to bolster its claim to an undersea ridge in the Arctic Ocean that was part of Siberia before it sank and moved offshore 250 million years ago during the Triassic Period.

But there also is the question of who would benefit if Antarctica were to win.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," said Sir Brownell. "Any economic returns could go to the United Nations." 

But it's far from clear there would be any returns.

"It's true we don't know yet if there are any hydrocarbons," said Dr. Stevens. "The signs are good, but we just don't know."

Antarctica's expected claim, if it's made, could make the matter an even more complicated multilateral affair given the patchwork of competing claims being asserted to the frozen continent by multiple countries whose explorers visited it in the past.

Geologists also have warned other claims may emerge. Dr. David Douglas of the University of West Manchester has written that drill samples could be used to make "Contiguency Claims" based upon Rodinia, an even older super continent that preexisted Gondwana. Rodinia broke apart 500 million years ago.

"Claims based on Rodinia Contiguency, if you have the data to support them, clearly would be superior in time," wrote Dr. Douglas. "For example, the Congo might be able to make a claim since it was once was part of Rodinia. But it would need to establish it shares sediments with the fragments, it seems to me."

Others disagree that any Rodinian claims are possible.

"There was no land-based life on Rodinia," offered Dr. Stevens. "The amphibians hadn't yet come ashore. Thus, any claim based on Rodinia Contiguency must fail: no ancestral argument exists."

But Douglas asserted that the Rodinian claims wouldn't be based on ancestry. "They're purely geologic,” he explained. “And I would remind Messrs. Modi, Albanese and Stevens, and others pushing Gondwana claims, that when Gondwana broke apart their ancestors were living in burrows. Their claims, like the Rodinian claims, are historic and geologic, not ancestral."  

Whether Rodinian claims or claims based upon even earlier super continents, such as Ur, can and will be made, remains to be seen.

"The evidence could be there," said Douglas. "Only Greenland has sediments known to be old enough to make a claim based on Ur. But it would have to ask the court for more time to research the issue." Douglas declined to say whether he has been contacted by Greenland, but said he expects Denmark's Foreign Ministry is investigating the matter. He added Russia also is likely to try to assert a claim based on having sediments from Ur, even though no sediments of sufficient age have been discovered there.

Some prospective claimants are concerned that geologists already are planting fossils to support their country's claims to the underwater fragments. “That wouldn't be cricket, in my view,” sniffed Sir Brownell. 

One additional claim has emerged in recent days. Chinese President Xi Jinping has argued that China has a claim superior to all geologic or evolutionary claims because Admiral Zheng He’s fleet sailed over the fragments in the 15th Century. For this reason, China has an “expeditionary claim,” he explained. “No one else does,” he added.

Jacques Anders of the International Court of Justice, where any legal claims to the fragments would be addressed, says the Court hasn't received a filing from China, but isn’t expecting one. “Even so,” he added, “we're standing by."  

David L. Carden served as the first resident U.S. ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He is the author of Mapping ASEAN: Achieving Peace, Prosperity, and Sustainability in Southeast Asia and has written for Foreign Policy, Politico, the SAIS Review of International Affairs, the Guardian, the South China Morning Post, and Strategic Review, among others. He also is a mediator and serves on the Board of the Weinstein International Foundation, which promotes the use of mediation around the world.

210907-N-HS181-1029 is by U.S. Pacific Fleet and is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0