Mediterranean sea: Researchers discover lost continent Greater Adria

Researchers have discovered a hidden continent under the Mediterranean sea, called Greater Adria. It is reportedly the size of Greenland and was discovered when the team of researchers were restoring the evolution of the Mediterranean's complex geology. The researchers believe that the continent must have broken off from the North Africa region and got buried under the area of South Europe about 140 million years ago. According to them, there is a possibility that many people must have stepped on the continent without even realising it. The continent found at one of the most geologically complex areas of the world is reportedly located around 1,500 km underneath Europe. 

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Separated from North Africa 200 million years ago

Author and professor of global tectonics and palaeogeography at Utrecht University, Douwe van Hinsbergen, who is also heading the team of researchers, in an interview to a foreign news agency, used the reference of Plato's Atlantis. He was quoted saying, "gorget about Atlantis, Greater Adria might have been visited by tourists several times every year."

He also said most mountain chains that were investigated by them originated from a single continent that was separated from the Northern part of Africa 200 million years ago. The only part of the continent that is still alive is a strip that runs from Turin through the Adriatic Sea towards the heel of the boot that forms Italy. The name Greater Adria is given to the lost continent because the area where it was found is popularly known as Adria by geologists.

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Parts of Greater Adria are still visible

The geologists of the Mediterranean region are of a distinct understanding of plate tectonics, which is responsible for the formation of oceans and continents. However, in the rest of the world, the theory followed is different. Most parts of Greater Adria was underwater, shielded by shallow seas, coral reefs and sediments. These sediments had set up rocks which scraped off like barnacles when the continent was forced under Southern Europe. The rocks that were scrapped later on were formed into mountain ranges found in the regions of the Alps, the Apennines, the Balkans, Greece and Turkey.

While speaking to a news agency, Van Hinsbergen said that Greater Adria might have formed many smaller continental blocks as well that are now parts of Romania, North Turkey or Armenia. Some portion of Greater Adria can be seen in the mountain ranges. The rest of it that was about 100 km thick dived under the earth's mantle. 

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