Mapping of Sea to Extend Borders of MAny Nations

Recently Russia PLanted a flag under the ice near the North Pole. This ritual seems meaningless as flag planting does not give legal claim to any land. This action was a actually a celebration to the comlpeteion of the underwater mapping of that region. This planting could be compared to the United States flag planting on the moon, as both were just exclamations of an achievement not an actual claim. However, this move did trigger alot of confusion. Under that frozen surface, there is a high probability, that oil is present. The question became, "Who owns this oil?". Previously borders were beasured off the coast. So borders in the Ocean would be like an outline of the coast. This debate has changed that however. The United Nations has decided that instead of claiming by distance that the continental shelf should be the border. Using new methods of mapping the land land ownership will be determined. Many nations including the United States will be affected by this as the US has vast amounts of coastline. The major reasoning behind this issue is the fact that trillions of dollars of oil may be present and nations are already arguing over who owns this underwater wealth. Denamrk and Canada argued over the newly discovered "Lomonosov Ridge", but this mapping by Russia proves it to belong to Moscow. The US has been scanning its continental shelf silently for 6 years. This new mapping will give nations overlapping claim to the same land which will need to be resolvedat a later date. article