'This could be the origin of the Atlantis legend': Mountain that sank beneath the waves discovered off Canary Islands

Researchers in Spain have uncovered lost islands that sank into the ocean millions of years ago, some of which still have their beaches intact.

"This could be the origin of the Atlantis legend," Luis Somoza, the head of a project to study volcanic activity off the Canary Islands, told Live Science in an email.

The team found the islands on a seamount, or underwater mountain, which contains three now inactive volcanoes and is about 31 miles (50 kilometers) in diameter. Its base is about 1.4 miles (2.3 km) below the surface of the ocean.

Scientists dubbed the newfound seamount Mount Los Atlantes after Plato's fabled civilization that the gods plunged into the ocean as a punishment for its citizens' immorality.

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"They were islands in the past and they have sunk, they are still sinking, as the legend of Atlantis tells," Somoza, a geologist with the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC), said in a translated statement.

Scientists found Mount Los Atlantes while exploring the seabed off the east coast of Lanzarote, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) at depths of between 330 and 8,200 feet (100 to 2,500 m). The dive was part of IGME-CSIC's Atlantis project, which aims to better understand underwater volcanic and hydrothermal activity in the region.