Page 14 - IAV Digital Magazine #483

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Scientists Discovered A Lost Continent 1,500 Kilometers Under Europe
Isabella O'Malley
A new study that analyzes the evo- lutionary history of the Mediterranean region, one of the most geologically complex regions on Earth, has found that there is a lost continent nearly 1,500 kilo- metres under- neath Europe.
The scientists aimed to recon- struct the timeline of how mountain ranges, oceans, and continents formed and noticed that 240 million years ago a piece of conti- nental crust the size of Greenland became separat- ed from North Africa and plunged into the Earth's mantle underneath Southern Europe.
The only part of the continent that remains today is
a relatively small section that runs along northern Italy through the Adriatic Sea to the most eastern tip of the country, and the study's principal researcher Douwe van Hinsbergen calls
this hidden conti- nent "Greater Adria."
The researchers say that the deformed rem- nants of the top few kilometres of the lost continent can still be seen in the mountain
ranges. A press release from Utrecht
University says "Forget Atlantis. Without realizing it, vast numbers of tourists spend their holiday each year on the lost continent of Greater Adria."
The study was recently pub- lished
in Gondwana Research and finds that most of the mountain ranges there were analyzed originated from a single continent
that separated from North Africa over 200 million years ago.
Scientists say that this Mediterranean region is so complex because many tectonic plates are "curved, bro- ken, and stacked," where- as other regions, such as the Himalayas, which was creat- ed by two tec- tonic plates col- liding with each other.
The researchers say that increased knowl- edge about
mountain range formations allows for a greater understanding of earthquakes and volcanoes, which can be used to more accurately predict what an area will look like in the far future.
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