Researchers, while analyzing the Mediterranean region and its complex geology, consisting of deep cliffs and seas from Spain to Iran, discovered a long-lost continent.

Called the Great Adria, it is the size of Greenland and broke away from North Africa to be "buried" under Europe some 140 million years ago. Greater Adria is hidden beneath the Mediterranean and the southeastern region of Europe, which includes Albania.

According to the study's author Douwe van Hinsbergen, the only remaining part of this continent is a strip of land that runs from Turin to the Adriatic Sea, the bottom of Italy's boot map.

Concerning the Mediterranean region, the researchers emphasize the uniqueness of tectonic plates, which do not deform as they move along one another. However the region of Turkey and the Mediterranean in general exhibits different characteristics from the rest.

Adria was submerged under Southern Europe and its sedimentary rocks became vast: the Alps, the Apennines, the Balkans, Greece and Turkey.

According to experts, Adria began to become a separate continent about 240 million years ago and is not the first missing continent to be discovered. Two years ago, researchers discovered part of the extinct Gondwana continent that split 200 million years ago. The remainder is the Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean. Also in 2017, a research team found the lost continent Zealandia in the Pacific Ocean.

- Adapted from CNN