Did you know? There is an entire continent below Europe

Researchers have just recreated a map of an entire continent "hidden" beneath southern Europe. Known as the “lost continent, ” the Great Adria (official name of the continent) is said to have emerged 240 million years ago, following the movement that separated the tectonic plates that formed a supercontinent that comprised Africa, Antarctica, South America. and Australia, the Pangeia.

According to the new mapping of the territory, it is believed that under Europe there is a giant territory that runs from the Alps to Iran. And not everything was above sea level, leading researchers to believe that there was still a series of islands and archipelagos forming the lost continent.

To develop the mapping, researchers from the Department of Earth Sciences at a Dutch university have spent the last decade analyzing rocks in Greater Adria. The conclusion they came to was that the stones belonged to at least 30 different countries from the current formation of Europe.

Continent clashed with Europe

The Great Adria movement process would have begun 140 million years ago, when the supercontinent began to move north. According to the researchers, between 100 million and 120 million years ago, the great land mass literally clashed with Europe, causing its territory to slide "down" from the Old Continent. However, just like a collision between cars, the shock left traces and marks, which allowed for further study of the lost continent.

For the researchers involved, reconstructing the map of hidden territory beneath Europe was like assembling a puzzle. A jigsaw puzzle that took 10 years to complete.