Message #175714

[Carolyn Silver]

Catastrophist Theories

Once maps of the Americas became available, a number of workers noted the fit of the Atlantic coastlines of South America and Africa.

    * F. Bacon (1620) - Recognized similarity of South America - Africa coastlines. Speculated that the were remnants of Atlantis.
    * F. Placet (1668) - Earth undivided before the flood. Postulated Americas formed by emergence of floating island during flood, or separation from Europe by destruction of intervening landmass Atlantis.
    * Von Humboldt (1801) - Proposed that a former continent Atlantis, had subsided beneath ocean or that enormous valley had somehow been excavated due to water flow.
    * A. Pellegrini-Snider (1858) - postulated drift due to outpouring of materail from within Earth at time of great flood that caused rifting and pushed continents apart to form the Atlantic. Made first pre-drift reconstruction
    * Problems: Isostasy prevents continents from sinking into the ocean.