According to Plato, Atlantis was destroyed by a natural event about 9,000 years before his time, that is, in coincidence with the end of Pleistocene. It can be assumed, therefore, that the destruction of Atlantis was strictly related with the events that provoked the end of Würm glaciation, the mass extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna and the sudden disappearance of the Magdalenian cultures. In order to understand what really happened, it is necessary to know precisely what the climatic and geographic situation was at that time, and which were the causes that changed it.
EARTH AN UNSTABLE PLANET
Earth’s stability is provided by the equatorial bulges, which have a maximum thickness at the equator of about 14 km, 30% of which are made up of water.
Free liquid surfaces are a well known cause of instability: a simple tsunami can displace in a significant way the poles. The end of Pleistocene was marked by a “tsunami” of more than 400 mt at the Haway, 700 mt in Alaska, thus displacing the poles of about 20°, enough to provoke a sudden adjustment of the crust of the equatorial bulge, with a permanent shift of the poles.
PERMANENT SHIFTS OF THE POLES
What can provoke “tsunamis” of that amplitude? If an asteroid or a comet hitting Earth develops a couple equalising, even for a short instant, the stabilizing couple of the equatorial bulges, a process is started that in a matter of days arises a sort of “tide” of hundred of meters around a new axis, until it forces a readjustment of the bulge. Simple calculations show that a disturbing couple of such value can be developed by a relatively small body (few hundred of meters), hitting Earth at high speed and with an appropriate angle. The large crater of Sithylemenkat, Alaska, is smoking evidence that at the end of Pleistocene Earth was hit by a body of that magnitude; therefore all the conditions for a permanent shift of the poles were satisfied.
THE TILT AND ITS RELATIONS WITH THE CLIMATE
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A shift of the poles normally is accompanied by a change of the tilt, due to the fact that Earth is made by three distinct and separate layers: a nucleus of solid iron (2.780 km), surrounded by a layer (2080 km) of liquid iron, and finally the crust, a “plastic layer of 2.900 km, on top of which float the continents and the oceans. The movement of precession concerns only the rotational axis of the external layer, while the axis of the two internal layers are dragged along by attrition only with a very great delay. Therefore the axis of rotation of the three layers are never coincident. As a consequence, if the axis (i.e. the poles) of the external layer is shifted, also the tilt will find a different point of equilibrium. |
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The tilt has a great influence on the Earth’s climate, particularly for what concerns the accumulation of permanent ices. A low value of the tilt (axis vertical) would cause an enormous accumulation of permanent ices at the poles and on the mountains, thus provoking a great decrease of the oceans’ level. On the other hand the climate is relatively stable during the year, thus allowing the spread of large animals at the very edge of the ice caps.
A high value of the tilt (let’s say, more than 30°) would cause great seasonal climatic differences, with very cold winters and very hot summers, such as to completely melt the ices even at the poles. The oceans’ level would be at its maximum, but extreme climatic differences would limit the spread of species.
POSITION OF THE POLES AT THE END OF PLEISTOCENE
A look at the conditions of Earth at the end of Pleistocene shows: enormous accumulation of ices all over the planet, with consequent sea level lower of 120 mt; polar ice caps displaced with respect to the actual position of the poles; an imposing community of megafauna, living at the very edge of the ice caps. This suggests that the poles were on a different position with respect of today’s, and the tilt was much lower.
The most probable position of the north pole was more or less baricentric with respect to the Canadian and the Scandinavian ice-caps, somewhere between Greeland and the island of Baffin.
The South Pole had to be displaced towards Australia of about 20 degrees. The side of Antarctica facing Oceania, was completely covered by ice as of today. On the contrary the coasts facing America, Africa and Asia, were ice free (no ice older then 10.000 years can be found today in this part of Antarctica), and enjoyed a mild climate
This situation came to an end between 12 and 11 thousand years ago, due to a shift of about 20° of the poles, probably provoked by the Sithylemenkat meteor
ANTARCTICA NAVEL OF THE WORLD
Antarctica is at the centre of the three oceans and of all continents. Being the sea level about 120 meters lower than the present one, the profile of Antarctica was more or less as it appears on the right, with the likely position of the pole on top and the ice-free coast on the bottom.
The world at the end of Pleistocene (right). Every floating object escaping the coasts of South-East Asia would have been carried towards Antarctica.
Between 50 and 40 thousand years ago man colonized Australia on some sort of boats or rafts. Inevitably, some of them had to reach Antarctica
THE FIRST HUMAN CIVILISATION
At that time the Atlantic coasts of Antarctica enjoyed a mild climate, but were devoid of most vegetables that assured the survival of those people in their original land. This fact probably forced those Palaeolithic sailors to make the first experiments of agriculture, prompting as a consequence the construction of new working instruments, new types of dwellings, a new social organisation and so on: the first steps toward a technological civilisation.
A peculiar characteristic of Antarctica at that time is that it could be reached by floating objects coming from all over the world, but not vice versa. A raft escaped from the coasts of Antarctica would have been carried in circle around the island itself or right in the middle of the Pacific ocean. The first civilisation, therefore, should have developed in Antarctica in complete isolation from the rest of the world, because nobody would have been able to leave the island and export elsewhere the first fundamental conquests on the way to civilisation.
Only when it achieved a technological level such as to consent the construction of large oceanic vessels they were able to reach the coasts of neighbouring continents. At that point, however, the technological gap between them and the Palaeolithic populations, that continued to inhabit the northern hemisphere, was too big in order to allow any reciprocal influence.
THE DIASPORA OF THE SURVIVORS
Then disaster struck. Antarctica was first submerged by a dramatic, although temporary, rising of the sea level and in the following years was covered by a thick layer of snow and ice. The only survivors took refuge onboard the ships, of which, according to Plato, there were a very high number. Most of them were lost during the hurricane, but a certain number managed to reach safely the coasts of America, Africa and Asia. There, each of them, merging with local Palaeolithic survivors, gave origin in complete autonomy and isolation to a new population, the culture of which was derived from that of Atlantis. In the following millennia those populations spread all over the rest of the world.
Several ships
survived the catastrophy that marked the end of Pleistocene
and reached the
facing continents (except Australia)
The six areas in the world where
agriculture started almost at the same time
after the end of Pleistocene
(from Cavalli Sforza)