Russian scientists from the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics managed to reveal the existence and the history of the mysterious continent called Arctida using paleomagnetic analysis, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported.
According to their research, the continent, which now mostly exists as underwater shelf, came together twice in Earth's history — first as a part of the Rodinia supercontinent 750 million years ago and then as a part of the Pangaea supercontinent, which existed around 335 million years ago.
Following the dissolution of Pangaea and creation of the Arctic Ocean, parts of the ‘second' Arctida were spread across the northern pole, mostly becoming the Arctic shelf.
The discovery puts the last nail in the coffin of the theory that Arctida was home to the mythical Hyperborea, a northern land describe in Ancient Greek texts. Since the last time the continent existed as a whole was several hundred million years ago, no civilisation could have existed there, a senior research associate at the institute, Nikolay Matushkin, explained.
