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The Mid-Atlantic Ridge – Atlantis revisited

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Carolyn Silver
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« on: August 11, 2008, 02:04:51 am »

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge – Atlantis revisited

Even today several contrasting theories exist concerning the geographical position of Atlantis, the continent – or perhaps we should say, the island – that disappeared approximately 14,000 years ago. Some researchers try to locate Atlantis in the Mediterranean Sea, believing that the Greek island of Santorini is in reality what is left of it, while others search for the mythical place off the coasts of Cornwall, England. Some even think that Atlantis may be found near Antarctis.

Plato’s texts are known to most people who are interested in the origins of the Atlantis myth, so we will not cite them here. However, one piece of information that Plato seems to be very certain about, is Atlantis’ location "beyond the pillars of Hercules" – the ancient name for Gibraltar. Thus, in the Atlantic Ocean – and in the light of this information, it is logical to conclude that the name of the lost island is not casual.

If we presume that the Atlantic Ocean is the place where we may find traces of Atlantis even today, an important point must be stressed: if Atlantis was actually located in the Atlantic Ocean, it could not have been a ‘continent’, if we consider the morphology of the earth’s crust. The well-documented theory of the continental drift seems to sustain this conclusion. In fact, if we compare the costal lines of the African and European continents to those of the American continent, we find that there is not sufficient land "left" to justify the presence of an actual "continent", not even in past geological ages.

Also the question of the sudden disappearance of Atlantis is a mystery. In geological terms, a few years or months represent a very short period of time, which is why the theory that Atlantis may have sunk ‘in a few hours’ is rather weak. We may presume that this theory is a result of the usual evolution of legends: the disappearance of Atlantis in the course of a more probable period of several months or weeks, with a geological background of several years of developing sub-crustal pressure – until we arrive at a fabulous and sudden disastrous sinking that seems mysterious and inexplicable. This is the typical way of the oral tradition of distorting the actual facts. When mankind began to record the history of their ancestors, the stories e.g. from Atlantis, had been passed from generation to generation of survivors and their off-spring with varying degrees of accuracy, until what would finally be written down, was bound to be a tale very different from the actual events. The historical notions that we possess regarding Atlantis are those gained by Solon from the priests of Ancient Egypt – and another 200 years passed, before Plato wrote the texts where Atlantis is mentioned. Obviously, the story of the lost country has greatly changed during the centuries and millennia.

Some researchers have sought the solution of a sudden disappearance of an entire continent in the theory of the inversion of the Earth’s magnetic poles – a real phenomenon which however does not represent a threat to the survival of continents, and only in rare cases to that of islands.

Below, a geologist’s condensed explanation of the concepts of the inversion of the magnetic field of the planet and the continental drift. Writes dr. Mauro Carta who collaborates with the Italian web-site www.vialattea.net/esperti/geologia.html:

"The phenomenon of the inversion of the Earth’s magnetic field is not connected with any particular glaciation, e.g. the Riss. We are having to do with a phenomenon that is strictly connected with the theory of the movements caused by plate tectonics, and with the expansion of the ocean floor. At the centre of the Atlantic Ocean there is a gigantic ridge which expands for thousands of kilometres in N-S direction, from Iceland in the north to the Bouvet Island in the south. In correspondance with this ridge (which has been named ‘mid-atlantic’ because it divides the ocean in two parts), we find submarine volcanic activity, with an incessant production of basaltic crust. In the ‘60s the theories of H. Hess and D.H. Matthews introduced Plate Tectonics, which repeated the conclusions that the German Alfred Wegener had drawn in the 1920s. A very substantial piece of evidence for the expansion of the oceanic crust was the discovery of the magnetic inversion: practically, it has been discovered that the Earth’s two magnetic poles are periodically inverted. The reason for this inversion is yet to be discovered, but the inversion is registered at a microscopical level in basaltic rocks, whose magnetic minerals solidify along the lines of the magnetic field present during their period of consolidation. The ocean floor of the Atlantic Ocean presents a ‘stripe’ structure, meaning that moving away from the ridge, the magnetism of the basaltic rocks display positive polarity in one place, and a negative polarity in another (the iron-magnetic minerals of an oblongue shape display variations of 180° between each other). As the Atlantic basalts are of an age that goes from 180 million years to very recent structures, this means that at least since the Jurassic until today the two magnetic poles (which are not identical to the geographic poles that correspond to those points where the Earth’s rotation axis intersects its surface – the magnetic poles are somewhat dislocated; they have their northern point in the Canadian arctic archipelago – and the southern one in the d’Urville Sea in Antarctis.) These magnetic poles have inverted their position a great many times."

(cit. Mauro Carta, www.vialattea.net/esperti/geologia.html )


The Mid-Atlantic Ridge – MAR – as it can be seen in NASA’s official map
(URL: http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/ridge.html)

It is possible to observe that exactly along the ridge, in a certain point some higher reliefs are present below sea level, as indicated by the lighter blue colour.
From the geologist Mauro Carta’s explanations it results that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is very active – the dislocations of the reliefs are frequent and vivacious.
However – if there does not seem to be sufficient room for an entire continent, what may the original topology of Atlantis have been like?

The topografic relief maps that we have at our disposal today speak clearly. In the below image the colour indicates the age of the rocks. The brown and red zones are the most recent ones; they go back to a minimum of 0 years to a maximum of 9.6 million years ago. All the other areas are even older (older than 9.6 million years). Once again, the area that captures our interest is outlined by the white rectangle:


(Detail from the world topografic map at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov.)

As regards our purpose: the effective possibility of finding Atlantis, the last expedition in the mentioned area of the Atlantic Ocean saw an American team searching the MAR in the period November 14 – December 14, 2000. Responsible for the team were the professors Donna Blackman (Scripps Institute of Oceanography), Jeff Karson (University of Washington) and Deborah Kelley (Duke University), and other experts from a total of eight different American universities participated in the project. The "R/V Atlantis" was the research ship provided by the US Academic Navy – and the aim of the expedition was to study the mineralogical composition as well as the topographical evolution of the so-called "Atlantis Massif".


The instrument that would allow the experts to study the ridge at close quarters, was "Alvin", a small bathyscaphe capable of diving to great depths and equipped with a mechanical arm for the removal of rock samples. Furthermore, sophisticated sonar and video instruments on the "R/V Atlantis" would contribute to illuminating the results of the research from other angles.

The choice of the area where the research would be concentrated was not casual. Probably previous cartographic studies of images elaborated by satellites have helped the experts select an area where they might obtain the results they were aiming at.


This research area, however, does not correspond entirely with the area indicated in the above NASA map (fig. 1), though perhaps except for the extreme north-eastern area of the chosen spot. The geographical location of the area is c. 30 degrees north. The MAR expedition’s web-site, http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/mar/ , explains the purpose of the same:

"The unusual thing about the area under study is a large mountain, called the Atlantis Massif, just west of the Mid-Atlantic spreading center at 30°N. The peak of the mountain is 1,700 m (5,000') higher than the usual spreading ridge crest. The width of the mountain is 4-6 times greater than that of most abyssal hills. It is clear that this mountain is a new addition to Earth's crust since it is part of very young and newly created seafloor. The mission is to find out why and how it formed. What forces are responsible for the great height to which rock has been uplifted at this site? What caused a change in the usual style of oceanic crustal formation? When might this area return to its normal state? These are the many questions the scientists seek to answer."

If the American research team had decided to concentrate their studies in an area located more north-easternly of the Atlantis Massif, they might have discovered other things – perhaps also of an archaeological nature – but the mentioned scientific expedition of course clearly states that their main interests concerned the geological features of the MAR. From the maps of the "National Geophysic Data Center" (NGDC: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov ) it is possible to observe very clearly that a little further towards north-east, a much more interesting relief is located, from an archaeological point of view – it is in fact an area where the attempted recovery of objects might offer evidence of a submerged civilization. Let us observe the maps which are available on the Internet at the NGDC-site (the images are small details of much larger maps, which have not been manipulated in any way. The maps have been developed by the NGDC for didactic and scientific purposes.)


In the right (eastern) part of this image we find the Iberian Peninsula, Gibraltar, and part of the north-west African coast. The Spanish and Portuguese islands off the African coast may be observed – and further to the left we see a section of the mid-atlantic ridge. The area outlined by the while oval corresponds to an area which probably represents the reliefs of a huge island which now lies below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. This area also includes the Azores.

The reliefs which are so clearly observed in the above image are even clearer in a splendid image of the entire planet, where the factor of the Earth’s curvature logically improves the visual prospective:( http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/relief_slides2.html )


It has been possible to study the underwater mountain ranges only since 1973 – in fact, ever since the beginning of the space age the various satellites have been providing spectacular images which indicate without any doubt hitherto unknown details concerning the Earth’s crust and the submarine reliefs. Here, we clearly see a submerged shape similar to a peninsula which points in south-west direction, towards the northern coasts of South America. The same reliefs that we find schematically sketched in the first map of this article, the NASA map, are more clearly visible, here.

It seems natural to ask, if so many archaeologists are in search of a scoop - why have none of them ever gone directly in this place, to study the mid-atlantic ridge in a place where aerial images show such an evident island/peninsula shape?

In an attempt to explain this ‘lack of interest’ (or, granted, maybe we should say, ‘lack of funds’?), admittedly we only have very few references to point to, in order to feel certain that an expedition with the aim of finding Atlantis would yield the results hoped for. Besides Plato’s writings which have already been thoroughly discussed by many persons and organisations on the Internet, we have only one alternative source that offers any conclusive material on Atlantis. However, to compensate for its ‘solitude’, this source directly states the geographical coordinates of the lost island of Atlantis. And where two different sources agree, as it is known, the probabilities of obtaining a result increase. Below, we cite the ethical-philosophical-scientific work of "Toward the Light":

"The second empire that perished was a large island in the Atlantic Ocean, the so-called Atlantis. In the remote past this island was connected with the southern part of North America, but through volcanic activity it became separated from the mainland.
The shape of the island can reasonably well be compared to a diagonally elongated, inverted Latin "S" – the upper curve at the right, and the lower at the right. The island’s northernmost point extended to about latitude 40° North, longitude 34° West. The island extended south to about latitude 25 ½ ° North, and west to longitude 47° West, latitude 27 ½ ° North, and eastward to about longitude 28° West. …"

- and the detailed information to establish Atlantis’ exact location continue. On the base of this information we may sketch the following map (the shape of the island is only approximate):


In the book "Toward the Light" we furthermore find the information that if we trace an imaginary line from the English town of Plymouth to the centre of the island of Trinidad close to the South American coast, such a line would cut through the length of the submerged island and touch its easternmost and southernmost points. The largest part of the island would lie west of this line.

Those who have hitherto attempted a reconstruction of Atlantis have probably found difficulty when dealing with the factor of the curvature of our planet. It is in fact difficult to trace a line like the one described without being able to work with the Earth-sphere in three dimensions. If we let ourselves be helped by the most recent satellite map from the NGDC, this new prospective reveals some interesting details:


What would the oceanographers/archaeologists find if they actually decided to research the mentioned area, with bathyscaphs equipped with cameras, sophisticated sonars, etc.? After 14,000 years it would certainly prove difficult to find the ceramic objects described by our source:

"The production of clay utensils was widespread. Basins, bowls and vases were often engraved with ornamental animals and leaves, whose outlines were filled in with brilliant colours." ("Toward the Light", pages 196-97)

It would probably be easier to find other kinds of objects:

"Gold, copper and to some extent silver were all known and used for jewelry and finer utensils, as well as for inlays in the carved wooden images of the gods. Many such images were hewn in stone or formed out of various metallic alloys. The art of building was especially highly developed." (idem, page 197)

The site of what was perhaps the most impressing construction of Atlantis has been pointed out to us: Atze’s Temple – today identified by the name of one of the last high priests of the island. Even today, we have the possibility of observing this temple, because we possess drawings, based on precise instructions from the authors of "Toward the Light". In the 1930s the Danish architect Knud Brønnum made a model in scale of the temple, which can be seen in the offices of the publishing house "Toward the Light Publishers", in Adelgade, Copenhagen.

Below, the drawing of the temple’s façade:


(the drawing made by Knud Brønnum, copied from Carsten Skaarup’s book,
"The Victory of the Light over Darkness")

For more accurate information on Atlantis, see "Atlantis - geographical and cultural notions".

Is it scientifically possible, on the basis of the information we possess of Atlantis, to say that we have at last discovered the lost island’s geographical location?

The hitherto most reliable texts, Plato’s writings, have been carefully studied by many archaeologists and amateur researchers. The other text that we have mentioned in the above, "Toward the Light", is a much more recent text; it was first published in 1920.

Plato left us with fairytale-like and approximate indications – while "Toward the Light" describes Atlantis’ culture and level of civilization very accurately – besides offering its precise geographical position. The above study, based on the maps at our disposal today – which most certainly were not available to those persons who wrote down and published "Toward the Light" – demonstrates beyond doubt that the mentioned geographical coordinates are to be taken very seriously.

**********************

Other links for those who want to learn more about the geological nature of ocean floor of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – the experts’ comments may be found at the following URLs:

· From "Science for Everyone", a ‘field study’ of the MAR containing interesting data on the eruptive processes and the tectonic movements typical of the area: http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/eosdksmith.html

· Exceptional images at: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/2minrelief.html
The entire site http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov displays various types of geographical maps. A web site worth visiting.

http://www.altrementi.com/english/literary/mid-atl_ridge.htm
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BlueHue
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« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2008, 06:19:23 am »

inversion of Earth's magnetic Poles-field
may be a historical ZODIAK-tilting-Event
About 855 bc the egyptian astronomers recorded that EAST & WEST were switched
so that when we today read that " Atlantis was WEST of Egypt "
it stands to reason that it was/ is actually EST of Egypt.
But in the WEST of Araby !

THIS " World SEA"
that is now apparently called the Atlantis Ocean
Used to be known as the " KNOWN" World Sea but
Media-shortenig got the better of this forgotten distinction !

To Plato and the Ancients
KNOWN- World or OIKUMENE was ARABY
and THUS the " World" SEA was the RED- SEA !far smaller that the " WORLD"-Ocean

By ignoring this" overlooked-distinction "
all Atlantologists are happily continuing, to
bark-up the wrong tree, I have said it often enough.( on Deathman's Ears !)

Sincerely " BlueHue " dd 4 Nov-23008
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( Blue's)THEORY, locating"original" Atlantis( in Aden-Yemen.)
1: ATLANTIS =Fake=Latin name, original Greek: ATHE(=a Region in Aden)
2: Atlantic-OCEAN=Greek: RIVER-of-Atlas+also" Known "World-OCEAN(=Red-Sea)
3: Greek-obsolete-Numeral 'X' caused Plato's Atlantisdate:9000=900
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