Cataclysmic Tectonic Shifting – Discussing Doomsday

Published April 25, 2011 | By Bryan

Charles Hapgood

Review of: The Doomsday Chronicle by Anthony Dias Souza.

Hypothesis of Cataclysm

The devastating Japanese earthquake and on-going tremors makes us realize how much we depend upon the stability of the Earth. Suppose however that the Earth is not stable and stresses are building up to the breaking point, which make a 9.0 quake appear as a tiny ripple in comparison. When that breaking point is reached, the Earth as we know it changes over a matter of days as the tectonic plates rearrange. Dias Souza states this will happen soon and that it has happened many times in the past, destroying much of the surface of the planet. He bases his evidence on historical, archeological and scientific evidence: the last being primarily the 1958 book by Charles Hapgood, Path of the Poles.

The Earth’s axis is tilted, and so the North and South ice caps are displaced from its axis of rotation, resulting in nutation. The Earth wobbles, like a spinning top, on its axis. Suppose we imagine a period of time with no polar ice. The oceans would be over a hundred meters higher than today, and its rotation would cause the Earth to be slightly depressed at the poles and slightly bulged at the equator. If we also assume that this centrifugal motion caused the tectonic plates to be in equilibrium, then it would be a period of geological stability, with no major earthquakes.

If climatic conditions are similar to ours, then from these initial conditions, the water evaporates at the equatorial areas and is deposited in the northern (Greenland) and southern (Antarctica) parts. Over time, these Polar Ice Caps build to kilometers in thickness, similar to today. Recall these regions are displaced from the axis of rotation, so the wobble increases as the ice builds up. The amount of ice at each of these two points is staggering. If the ice in Antarctica was spread out to a thickness of two kilometers it would cover about the area of North America. Global warming makes matters worse. Although a lot of sea ice melts, the higher temperatures cause greater evaporation at the equatorial areas which increases the accumulation at the polar caps.

A consequence of the accumulation of polar ice is to increase the wobble, which in turn causes stress on the tectonic equilibrium. As we know when we push an object over a rough surface, the initial friction is greater than the friction of a moving object. Once the forces build up to the point that they break, a rapid and massive shifting occurs sending the poles, and their ice, to the equator and the equator to the poles. The skin of the Earth rearranges in a cataclysmic event. As the Earth’s crust trusts and turns, tsunamis slosh around the globe and volcanic activity obliterates the sun causing rapid cooling. Such an event can happen over the period of a few days, as evidenced by the fast freezing of animals found with their tropical diet still intact in their bellies. Many species become extinct, and those pockets of human’s that do survive are thrown back to the Stone Age. Once at the equator, and as the volcanic dust subsides, the ice melts and the oceans rise again. The Earth no longer wobbles. Then the cycle starts again.

The Doomsday Chronicle

This, at any rate, is what we can expect any day now according to Anthony Dias Souza in his book, The Doomsday Chronicle, which is available free as a pdf. The last such event is suggested to have occurred 11,600 years ago, but based upon historical, archeological evidence and mathematical calculations, as early as 6,000 years ago.

Dias Souza relies on Hapgood’s work for most of the mathematical basis. Although at the time of Hapgood, the concept of drifting tectonic plates was not established, none-the-less his ideas are intriguing, although not accepted by the academic community. If, however, Hapgood is correct, we might be in for a shock.

I would not recommend Dias Souza’s 2009 book for a literary award. It is a bit repetitive and the historical support is a bit too long winded for me, even though the book is only 58 pages long. The message however, is clear. It can be read quickly, and revives the thought-provoking and controversial scientific ideas of Hapgood for such a cataclysm. Apparently this theme has been used in sci-fi with the latest being the movie 2012. Is this sci-fi or are we on the brink of disaster?

I would welcome views, especially from any experts in the field as to why Hapgood’s work is not taken seriously.