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

THE MOUNTAINS 12$
crust, and these will tend to be filled up with magma from
below. Since this magma, invading the crust, will average
higher specific density than the rocks of the crust, it may increase
the general weight of the crust, and thus depress it,
causing a deepening of the sea. This would not occur if the
separated blocks simply sank in the underlying magma until
they displaced their own weight, in the manner suggested by
Campbell. In that case, the crust would weigh no more than
before. It seems, however, that volcanic activity is accom-
plished by very complex chemical processes, and by the absorption
of vast quantities of lighter rock and its transformation
chemically into heavier rocks, to the accompaniment
of much throwing off of gases into the atmosphere. It is also
true, as we have noted, that massive lava flows may occur on
the sea bottoms (or even, perhaps, within the crust, at points
below the sea bottoms) as a result of displacement of the
crust. These could have the effect of weighting the crust.
Moreover, an equatorward displacement of an area must
result in a gravitational effect opposite to that of the poleward
displacement mentioned by Gutenberg. In this case,
the crust must rise to achieve gravitational balance. In so
have to draw into itself a considerable amount
doing it may
of the heavier rock underlying the crust. This obviously
would tend to weight the crust.
The foregoing factors, added together, may account for
the observed deepening of the oceans, and the increase of
their total surface area, from the poles to the equator. A
careful survey indicates that this deepening is on the order
of one kilometer or, perhaps, 4,000 feet (233).
There is still another factor that may affect sea levels,
but in an unpredictable way. It seems clear, for several reasons,
that a displacement of the earth's whole crust must
result in considerable readjustments and redistribution of
materials of different densities on the underside of the crust.
While these can hardly be predicted, they must affect the
elevation of points at the earth's surface.
Geologists believe that the underside of the crust has un-