"QUANTUM SHOT" #615
LINK
- article by Simon Rose and
Avi Abrams
Earth's crust: moving around at a snail’s pace - or one monster
earthquake at a time
Recent earthquakes have made general public aware of the Earth's crust
movements as never before - not only as glacial slide over millions of
years, but also as something relevant to our lifetime. Of course we are
hoping that these movements will be confined to uninhabited wilderness, or
at least will not occur while we are fast asleep (or maybe we'll get
plenty of warning from a diligent dog, or a cat)... Most of the time,
though, we just ignore all that stuff and get on with our lives.
Yet here is a visual evidence that the Earth has undergone some pretty
serious changes in the past and will undoubtedly experience more in the
future.
(tectonic plates boundaries - see a detailed view
here)
(images via
1,
2)
Here are some examples of how the globe looked throughout different
periods in the earth’s history.
At the time of the dinosaurs, for example, the world map looked very
different to the way it does today and would have been almost
unrecognizable at other period’s in the planet’s geological history as
well. Many are familiar with the theory of plate tectonics, which
emerged in the 1960’s, and how the earth’s landmasses are moving around at
a snail’s pace on its crust. It had been noticed for some time that the
shapes of continents, particularly Africa and South America, resembled
separated pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Comparisons of fossils found along
the edges of continents that look like they fit together, convinced
scientists that the two landmasses must have once have been joined.
Middle Triassic map of Pangaea (below left). Note the superimposed
outlines of modern North America:
(images via 1,
2)
The Himalayas were formed when India collided with Asia, while the mid
Atlantic ridge plus most of the earth’s hot spots and earthquake zones are
located on the boundaries of plates, such as in the Ring of Fire in the
Pacific, the western coast of North and South America, the Mediterranean
and so on.
A number of supercontinents are thought to have existed in the
distant past, which formed and broke up over the course of millions of
years. The last one known as Pangaea, was formed around 300 million
years ago, but it was preceded by at least six others, according to
current scientific theory.
(image via)
Pangaea began to break up about 200 million years ago:
Gondwana continues to split, even today
It initially split into two pieces, roughly around the same size.
Laurasia included most of the landmasses that are today in the
northern hemisphere while Gondwana comprised much of the land now
in the southern hemisphere. Laurasia gradually moved further north, while
Gondwana moved south. Gondwana comprised Africa, Madagascar, South
America, Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and Antarctica. It also
included India and Arabia, which later separated and moved north. Today,
the East African Rift and the Red Sea are considered to be modern examples
of the continuing split of Gondwana.
(image
via)
During the time of the dinosaurs, the earth looked like this in the late
Jurassic era, about 150 million years ago:
(image
via)
It had altered again by around 94 million years ago, during the late
Cretaceous:
(image
via)
The future movements of the continents
So the earth’s surface has changed dramatically over the course of
millions of years and it is believed this process will continue in the
millennia to come. Based on what has happened in the past, it is possible
to envisage the future movements of the continents. This is the way the
world may appear fifty million years from now. The Atlantic Ocean will get
wider, but the Mediterranean Sea will disappear, as Africa collides with
Europe. Australia and Southeast Asia will join together, and California
will move in the direction of Alaska:
(map by C. R. Scotese,
PALEOMAP Project)
In 150 million years, further changes will have taken place:
(map by C. R. Scotese,
PALEOMAP Project)
Then 250 million years from now, another supercontinent, Pangea Ultima,
will appear:
(maps by C. R. Scotese,
PALEOMAP Project)
Watch animated plates in
Dance of the Continents
presentation, or even move the slider "through the ages" yourself
here. A look at the Earth's far future (seven billion years... and beyond) is
provided in this
slide show.
Worlds Collide!
2012 is coming (at least to the DVD stores near you). The end of the
world, according to some, will occur at the conclusion of the 5,125 year
long Mayan Long Count Calendar, around the time of the winter solstice in
December 2012. Haven’t we heard all this before, however, or at least
something very similar? Remember Y2K? Or imagine how some people must have
felt in the year 1666 or in the year 999? Perhaps you recall some of the
more outlandish theories in circulation when Halley’s Comet returned in
1986? And what about those movies in the nineties about asteroid impacts,
not to mention the writings of Nostradamus? Well, despite dire warnings in
the past, the Earth is obviously still here and may very well be after the
events that are supposedly destined to take place in late 2012.
One theory regarding the movement of the earth’s landmasses, and which
features in the 2012 movie, is the theory of
earth crust displacement, first put forward by Charles Hapgood in
his books, The Earth's Shifting Crust in 1958 and
Path of the Pole in 1970. The hypothesis states that the physical
north and south poles suddenly shifted, creating massive tectonic
upheavals and enormous floods. According to Hapgood, at the end of the
last ice age, the build up of ice in the northern part of the globe caused
the crust to slip over the earth’s upper mantle. One description imagines
the loose skin of an orange shifting over the inner part of the fruit, all
in one piece. Hapgood’s examples of former locations for the North Pole
include the northern Atlantic between Scandinavia and Iceland, Hudson Bay
and Yukon:
(images
via)
Hapgood’s first book was published before the theory of plate tectonics
appeared and earth’s crust displacement has few advocates within the
geological and scientific community. The phenomenon of true polar wander
is accepted, but this would move the poles one degree at the most every
million years and it is believed there have been no sudden movements of
the poles in the last 200 million years.
Canadian writer Rand Felm-Ath corresponded with Hapgood and the theory of
earth crust displacement features in his book, When the Sky Fell,
which advanced the theory that the lost city of
Atlantis is located in Antarctica. These speculative maps of the
earth 11,600 years ago show the North Pole as being in Hudson Bay, which
would of course also affect the location of the South Pole. According to
this theory, crustal displacement would cause undersea earthquakes, which
would in turn create massive worldwide tsunamis. The ice caps would melt
and raise sea levels. Some land would be moved into warmer parts of the
globe, while others would move into colder ones. If part of Antarctica
once enjoyed a temperate climate before it was shifted further south,
Flem-Ath’s book argues that it could indeed have been the site of
Atlantis.
(original unknown)
Roland Emmerich, director of the 2012 movie, claimed in an interview to
have first read about the theory of crust displacement in another book
influenced by Hapgood, Graham Hancock’s Fingerprints of the Gods.
Hancock claims that a mysterious civilization was wiped out by a
catastrophe brought on by a disruption to the earth’s crust and a polar
shift. This civilization was in Antarctica, which was located in warmer
latitudes before the disaster shifted it into the polar region. The
civilizations’ survivors passed on their advanced knowledge to the peoples
of the Americas, the Egyptians and others, thus becoming the ancestor of
all of the earth’s ancient cultures. The learned community generally
dismisses Hancock’s claims as pseudoscience and pseudoarchaeology, but it
truly is fascinating stuff, whether you consider it based on fact or
simply wildly imaginative fiction. Despite the opinion of scientists and
archaeologists, Fingerprints of the Gods has sold in excess of
three million copies and been translated into many different languages.
Theories about massive and destructive geological changes around 10,000
years ago often involve the disappearance of Atlantis or some other lost
continent or civilization, the Pleistocene extinctions and the end of the
last Ice Age. They also believe the time period corresponds with the tales
of a great deluge appearing in cultures around the globe, including the
biblical flood. Was earth crust displacement the culprit for this and are
we once again headed for disaster in 2012? The earth certainly deems
destined for major changes in its future, but over the course of millions
of years, rather than overnight or in the course of weeks or months.
Whether a sudden change will occur, only time will tell. Stay tuned.
Not a very safe place to be, during an earthquake:
(original unknown)
CONTINUE TO "ONE-IN-A-MILLION COLLISIONS"! ->
Simon Rose is the
author of science fiction and fantasy novels for children, including
The Alchemist's Portrait,
The Sorcerer's Letterbox,
The Clone Conspiracy,
The Emerald Curse,
The Heretic's Tomb
and
The Doomsday Mask. Simon Rose also has the
video about
"The Doomsday Mask" which also mentions earth crust displacement and
books concerning Atlantis.
|
16 Comments:
Wow, this is a fantastic article! I'm actually writing a Scifi book about a super volcano that threatens mankind. It's a real threat.
only they forgot the earth is a sphere, so eventually east Asia will collide with west America.
Very good article.
Those pictures in bottom were a little silly ;P
This is a great load of information. It's funny because I was just pondering this whole thing especially since the earthquake in Chile. Thanks for sharing Simon.
Huzzah! Great Britain still independent 250 million years in the future
Where is the polar shifting?
Love your site, but hate this theme. You should change the colors (get rid of the brown) and use white background. Hey, just because your blog is named after coffee doesn't mean it has to be brown. :)
These pics r koooooool
As an anthropologist, I find Hancock's work very interesting and appreciate the questions he brings. I've seen too many instances of authorities telling a dozen people that each of their examples are "outliers" or "have no precedent' when their examples all in fact reinforce one another. Hancock's work seems to evolve, and I'm not sure if he even believes some of what he investigates. I think it's unfortunate that he dwells so much on Hapgood and largely discredited map "anomalies", he undermines his own good points by going back to that line of thinking. But he makes some very strong cases in my opinion on cultural traditions and oral history, and ferreting out anomalies that should be discussed.
sup jotos
Hi all,
I seem to remember reading some years ago that humanity's DNA diversity shows a bottleneck about 12000 years ago, possible caused by a calamity that severely reduced the number of people on the planet. Sorry, I've no links or attributions for this. Anyone heard or read this, I love to delve deeper into it.
Hi Mike
I think your numbers are a bit off. Try 72000 years ago and wiki/google 'Toba supervolcano'.
I saw plate tectonics time machine in Dresden Nature Science Museum - it was amazing to turn the wheel of Earth time, and it is so impressive to see all the changes for so long time in minutes...
DRB ist my most favorite site next to Wikipedia so I would like to contribute to its success. I'm sorry but I feel rather sceptic about these images that show the face of the earth in the distant future after all these pictures show Africa as a whole. This ignores the Great Rift Valley that will seperate Eastern Africa with countries like Somalia or Kenya from the bigger part of Africa.
Despite that: Keep up the good work!
Thank you - great to hear these words... as for the Rift Valley, you're absolutely right - something's gonna come out of it, as it is very active region.
http://www.fototerra.ru/Russia/Pevek/Fdw-1194.html
Here's the orogonal place of one of the photos in this post. Good luck.
Y.
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