The Earth's Shifting Crust by Charles Hapgood - wire of information

THE MOUNTAINS 105
The recognition within the fracture complex of the earth's outer
shell of a unique and relatively simple pattern, common to at least
be in local dis-
a large portion of the surface, obscured though it may
tricts through the superimposition of more or less disorderly fracture
complexes, must be regarded as of the most fundamental importance.
It points inevitably to the conclusion that more or less uniform con-
ditions of stress and strain have been common to probably the earth's
entire outer shell (217:163).
As I have pointed out, Mr. Campbell's projected pattern
of fractures is a sort of gridiron, with major fractures paralleling
the meridians, and minor fractures at right angles to
them. In the actual earth's surface, however, there are two
such patterns. One of them consists of north-south fractures
paralleling the meridians, intersected by east-west fractures
paralleling the equator. The second gridiron is diagonal to
the first; the lines run northeast-southwest, and northwest-
southeast. As to why there should be two such distinct fracture
complexes in the crust, I shall have more to say later on.
Hobbs insists that the existence of these world-wide patterns
points to a cause acting globally; they could not have been
the result of local causes; the force causing the fracturing
must have acted simultaneously, so to speak, over a great
part
of the whole surface of the earth:
. . . The results of this correlation possess considerable significance
inasmuch as it is clear that over quite an appreciable fraction of the
earth's surface, the main lines of fracture betray evidence of common
origin. . . . (218:15).
The fracturing of the crust under the operation of some
global force has been accompanied by much tilting and relative
movement of blocks of considerable size, resulting in the
alteration of topographic features. One of the earlier geolo-
gists, Lapworth, remarked with considerable truth, though
also with some exaggeration, that
On the surface of the globe this double set of longitudinal and
transverse waves is everywhere apparent. They account for the de-
tailed disposition
of our lands, and our waters, for our present coastal
forms, for the direction, length and disposition of our mountain
ranges and plains and lakes (430:296).