Greater Adria, a lost continent hiding in plain sight

By
Jim W. Dean and Gordon Duff
-
1
3230

 

  • Following a 10-year survey, geologists discover a lost continent in the Mediterranean.
  • ‘Greater Adria’ existed for 100 million years, and was probably “great for scuba diving”.
  • Most of it has been swallowed up by Earth’s mantle, but bits of it survive.

Complex geology

Image: NASA / public domain

Topographic map of the Mediterranean Sea basin, once home to the continent of Greater Adria.

Move over, Atlantis. Not all lost continents are myths; here’s one whose existence has just been verified by science. Greater Adria broke off from North Africa 240 million years ago. About 120 million years later, it started sinking beneath Southern Europe. But bits of it remain, scattered across local mountain ranges.



It’s the geological similarities in those mountains that had led scientists to hypothesize the presence of an ancient continent in the Mediterranean. But the region’s geology is so complex that only recent advances in computing—and a 10-year survey by an international team of scientists—were able to produce a geo-historical outline of that former land mass. This is the very first map of the world’s latest lost continent (1).

The 100-million-year history of Greater Adria starts nearly a quarter of a billion years ago. The world was a very different place back then. It was just recovering from the Permian-Triassic extinction, which came pretty close to wiping out all life on Earth. The planet was repopulated by the first mammals and dinosaurs.

read more

 

https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/greater-adria

ATTENTION READERS

We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully Informed
In fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.

About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
Due to the nature of uncensored content posted by VT's fully independent international writers, VT cannot guarantee absolute validity. All content is owned by the author exclusively. Expressed opinions are NOT necessarily the views of VT, other authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, or technicians. Some content may be satirical in nature. All images are the full responsibility of the article author and NOT VT.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

1 COMMENT

  1. Sedimentary rocks define depositional events, mass wasting, associated with physical and chemical weathering. The planet is full of these depositional events to be deciphered. Stratigraphy is a lot of fun.

Comments are closed.