Message #259666

[Autolocus]

Geology 101

Modern geology includes the subject of plate tectonics. The Earth is divided into more than a dozen such plates — several large ones and many smaller ones. These plates are not perfectly rigid, homogenous material. They are fractured, broken, split and buckling from the forces of movement against each other. At the boundaries of these plates, actions can be,

    Transverse — sliding past each other
    Convergent — moving toward each other
    Divergent — moving away from each other.

Plate boundaries are prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity. Most of the world's mountains are formed near plate boundaries, caused by plate convergence forcing the buckling of the Earth's crust, or an action known as "subduction" and the subsequent formation of volcanoes. This folded or buckled crust becomes many of the mountains. Examples include the Andes of South America, the Alps of Europe and the Himalayas of Asia. Subduction is merely the action of one plate attempting to slide underneath another. The action of billions of tons of rock rubbing against billions of tons of other rock creates lots of friction. Crustal folding is the result of this friction. This friction is, in effect, resistance to the movement of the plates against each other. And that resistance is converted into mountains.

Atlantis: Location

There have been numerous locations picked for Atlantis, from Sweden to Indonesia. Nearly all of them are wrong. Plato was quite clear on the location. All of the others are, by definition, not Atlantis. According to Timaeus and Critias, the two dialogues which are the source of the Atlantis story, the lost island was beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, in the Atlantic Ocean. The nearest portion of Atlantis was facing a region in Southwestern Spain called Gadira. This is the region surrounding modern Cádiz (Phoenician Gadir, Roman Gades and Moorish Qādis). Most claimants ignore this very specific detail from Critias.