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

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

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150<br />

EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST<br />

<strong>of</strong> their density, with the lightest on top. Daly, in 1940, proposed<br />

the following layering <strong>of</strong> the crust, at least under the<br />

continents:<br />

a. <strong>The</strong> sedimentary rocks, at the surface.<br />

b. Below these a layer <strong>of</strong> basement rocks <strong>of</strong> granitic type,<br />

ending about c.<br />

15 kilometers, or 9 miles, down.<br />

A third layer <strong>of</strong> rock, <strong>of</strong> somewhat greater weight, about<br />

25 kilometers, or 15 miles, thick.<br />

d. A fourth layer, about 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, thick, <strong>of</strong><br />

still heavier rock.<br />

Having proposed these layers, however, he added that "the<br />

exact depths <strong>of</strong> the discontinuities are not easily demon-<br />

strated" and "it seems clear that each <strong>of</strong> the breaks varies in<br />

its depth below the rocky surface" (97:17). In another place<br />

he gave evidence <strong>of</strong> light matter at the very bottom <strong>of</strong> the<br />

crust (97:223). <strong>The</strong>se layers, then, according to Daly, are very<br />

about them. On the one<br />

peculiar. <strong>The</strong>re is nothing regular<br />

hand, he gives rough estimates <strong>of</strong> their thicknesses. On the<br />

other hand, he indicates that these estimates are <strong>of</strong> little<br />

value. <strong>The</strong>y are, in fact, mere rough averages; they indicate<br />

a trend toward increasing density with depth, together with<br />

enormous confusion in the distribution <strong>of</strong> materials.<br />

In view <strong>of</strong> the extreme uncertainties <strong>of</strong> Daly's view <strong>of</strong> the<br />

structure <strong>of</strong> the earth's crust, it can hardly come as a com-<br />

plete surprise that the most recent geophysical investigation<br />

<strong>of</strong> the structure <strong>of</strong> the crust <strong>by</strong> the method <strong>of</strong> sound-wave<br />

surveying has failed to show any distinct layering <strong>of</strong> the<br />

crust. <strong>The</strong> geophysicists Tatel and Tuve have reported that<br />

the results <strong>of</strong> the most recent studies, using the most recent<br />

techniques, indicate that rocks <strong>of</strong> greater or less density are<br />

intermixed in utter confusion, that the essential structure<br />

<strong>of</strong> the crust is really that <strong>of</strong> a rubble, on a large scale (416:<br />

107).<br />

<strong>The</strong> main argument <strong>of</strong> the geophysicists who speak in<br />

favor <strong>of</strong> the permanence <strong>of</strong> the continents, and, consequently,<br />

<strong>of</strong> the ocean basins,<br />

is based on the observed difference in

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