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

210 EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST
a new outburst of volcanism, and the movement would be
renewed. In the intervals between phases of intense vol-
canism the dust would settle out of the air, the carbon diox-
ide would take effect, and the climate would rapidly grow
warmer. This warm "interstadial," however, would affect
different sides of the icecap differently; it could cause im-
portant recessions of the ice sheet on the equatorward side,
and at the same time, because of the accompanying rise in
humidity, it could augment the snowfall on the poleward
side.
The crust would continue to move, even though with each
recurring warm period the ice sheet grew thinner, because
the icecap, at each successive stage, would have been moved
farther from the axis of rotation, so that the effects of the
diminishing quantity of the ice would be effectively counterbalanced
by the multiplication of the centrifugal effect
per unit volume of the remaining ice (see Chapter XI).
Finally a time would come when the rising temperatures
of the lower latitudes and the accumulation of carbon di-
oxide would so far exceed the refrigerating effects of vol-
canic outbursts that the latter would become impotent to
maintain the icecap. With the reduction of the icecap below
a certain point, the crust would cease to move, volcanic dis-
turbance would decline, the air would be cleared of dust,
and within a short time the accumulated carbon dioxide
would usher in the warm phase of the Optimum. The story
ends with the absorption of the carbon dioxide by the vegetation,
the reduction of its percentage to normal, and the
establishment of a climate like the present.
4. The Glaciation of Europe
Further confirmation of the position of North America at
the pole during the Wisconsin glaciation comes from Eu-
rope. Radiocarbon dating has revealed some very interesting