The mapping of the lost continent of Greater Adria was done in a major project under the direction of the Dutch University of Utrecht. For ten years, geologists from all over the world have studied the Mediterranean region, which is considered to be one of the most complex on earth. The results of the research have now been published in the journal Gondwana Research.

According to the researchers, the continent is about the same size as Greenland and must have broken off from northern Africa over 200 million years ago. A reconstruction, based on the researchers' data, shows the Adria continent's position between Africa and Europe - 240 million years back in time.

This is what the continent looked like 140 million years ago. Photo: DOUWE VAN HINSBERGEN / UTRECHT UNIVERSITY

“A large and impressive project”

Steffi Burchardt, associate professor of structural geology at Uppsala University, heard about the Adria continent as a student while working in Italy, she tells SVT News.

- What is new is the large scale of the reconstruction. The researchers have found out puzzle pieces across 30 countries. It is not so easy to find as the Mediterranean is very complicated, says Steffi Burchardt.

Professor Erik Sturkell at the University of Gothenburg is also fascinated by the discovery.

Erik Sturkell, professor of earth science at the University of Gothenburg, is impressed by the extensive research on the lost continent.

- It is a large and impressive project they have completed. They have collected data from all Mediterranean countries, where each country has its own geological surveys. In a large database, they have succeeded in calibrating the material across national borders, says Erik Sturkell, who works at the Department of Earth Sciences.

A small part remains in Italy

For millions of years, Greater Adria has largely been located in southern Europe in the Earth's mantle, which lies between the core and the Earth's crust. But a small part remains. According to the principal researcher at Utrecht University, Professor Douwe van Hinsbergen, a large number of tourists may have spent their holidays on the lost continent - without having been aware of it.

"The only part that remains of the continent is a part that goes from Turin via the Adriatic to the heel of the boot that shapes Italy," explains van Hinsbergen.

Uppsala researcher Steffi Burchardt says that the mapping of the Adria continent gives a better picture of the early history of the Mediterranean region.

- The further back in time you go, the more ambiguous the picture becomes. That they have succeeded in reconstructing a continent from so far back in time is astonishing, she concludes.