Researchers Discover What Became of a Lost Continent, Now Hidden Under the Adriatic Sea
MADELEINE CARLISLE
September 25, 2019
Researchers with Utrecht University in the Netherlands have uncovered what became of a lost continent that broke off from Africa and wedged itself under Europe, creating mountain ranges that span across 30 different countries from Spain to Iran.
“What we have studied is the very complex history of the geology of the Mediterranean region,” Utrecht professor Douwe van Hinsbergen, the lead researcher on the project, tells TIME. Researchers had already known for decades that a continent created the mountain ranges of Europe and the Middle East. “What that continent might have looked like, however, was until now estimated with rather schematic cartoons,” van Hinsbergen says in an email. With the help of modern software, a clearer picture of that hidden continent emerged.