‘Greater Adria’: A Lost Continent Discovered After Millions of Years
Amsterdam: National Geographic report says that scientists have discovered parts of a lost continent in the mountain ranges from Spain to Iran.
According to details, the National Geographic report states that the continent, named Greater Adria, was buried in land and sea after colliding with Europe, while its debris took the form of mountains and it is still there millions of years later.
According to the report, the research has re-established the earth’s 240 million years old history about the geological study of the Mediterranean region.
Scientists have explored parts of the continent that have disappeared between the mountain ranges from Spain to Iran in the past. Research has revealed that mountain ranges in Italy, Turkey, Greece and southeastern Europe were likely to occur after the collision with Greater Adria.
Source: Douwe van Hinsbergen, GONDWANA RESEARCH (2019)
Greater Adria was once part of the ancient super-continent of Gondwana, which eventually split into Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica and India, says Douwe van Hinsbergen, a professor of Utrecht University in Netherlands and first author of the study in Gondwana Research.
A foreign news agency said that around 240 million years ago, Greater Adria separated from Gondwana and took the shape of a continent itself. Most of it was submerged under the sea, and scientists believed that it formed a group of different islands in the continent, somehow, like the United Kingdom (UK) or the Philippines.
According to science reports, Greater Adria broke away from the mother continent about 240 million years ago, beginning a slow drift northward. The continent was about the size of Greenland, mostly submerged in a tropical sea, collecting sediment that hardened into rock, approximately 140 million years ago.
Source: Douwe van Hinsbergen, GONDWANA RESEARCH (2019)
Then, roughly 100 to 120 million years ago, it hit the southern edge of future Europe, spinning counterclockwise and moving at about 3 to 4 centimeters per year.
According to the research report, the collision between Europe and Greater Adria resulted in the formation of a great mountain range known as the Alps which would have been completely formed after millions of years as each continent moved only 3 to 4 centimeters a year.
Despite this slow pace, this collision has pushed the lost continent deeper into the depths of the European continent and its remains are still a mystery.
