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

CONTINENTS AND OCEAN BASINS 147
regarding the operation of turbidity currents (137, 139, 141)
caused by the slumping of sediments from the continental
slopes, and by other forces. It seems that such currents, even
now, are powerful enough to bring about considerable re-
arrangement
of the unconsolidated sediments of the ocean
bottom. A displacement of the crust would greatly magnify
their force, for it would cause extensive changes in the direc-
tions of major ocean currents, changes in sea and land levels,
extensive volcanism in the sea as well as on land, and an
increased number and a greater intensity of earthquakes,
which would occasion extensive slumpings of sediments along
the continental slopes.
If we consider that one such displacement
would, in all probability, keep the turbulence at a high
point for several thousand years, we can conclude that the
resulting dispersal of deep-sea sediments would probably be
on a considerable scale.
Finally, since we cannot suppose that any
area would be
uplifted rapidly from the deep sea to the surface (that is, all
the way in the course of a single displacement), it follows that
in most cases deep-sea sediments would be raised into shallow
water, where they would be exposed for a long time in an
unconsolidated state to the erosive action of the much more
rapid currents near the surface before they would be likely
to be raised above sea level. A very small proportion of deepsea
sediment would then be mixed by the currents with a
large proportion of sediment typical of shallow seas, and
would, in most cases, entirely disappear. These factors together
dispose of this argument for the permanence of ocean
basins.
Another interesting line of evidence with respect to this
problem is provided by the recent discovery on the bottoms
of the oceans, already mentioned, of several hundred moun-
tains of varying heights, which have been given the name of
"sea mounts." These have the common characteristic of be-
ing flat-topped. Apparently, their tops were made flat by the
action of the sea at the time they were at the sea level. Now