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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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352<br />

EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST<br />

. . . <strong>The</strong>re are two distinctly separate functions performed <strong>by</strong> the<br />

mass <strong>of</strong> the icecap. . . . <strong>The</strong> first is the centrifugal momentum caus-<br />

ing the lithosphere to change its position in relation to the . . .<br />

poles.<br />

When the lithosphere comes to a standstill for want <strong>of</strong> a sufficient<br />

force, the second function <strong>of</strong> the icecap gets busy and builds up a<br />

pressure <strong>of</strong> tremendous potential, five hundred times the force produced<br />

<strong>by</strong> the icecap, and will continue to add to this pressure at the<br />

rate <strong>of</strong> five hundred times the increasing pressure <strong>of</strong> the growing<br />

icecap, until it finally splits the lithosphere. <strong>The</strong>n the pressure will<br />

drop, and the first function will take hold, and once again start to<br />

move the lithosphere. This alternate action will continue to take<br />

place until the icecap is destroyed.<br />

. . .<br />

. . . <strong>The</strong> wedge does, not multiply the power <strong>of</strong> the centrifugal<br />

momentum, as such. <strong>The</strong> power disposed for the movement <strong>of</strong> the<br />

lithosphere remains the same as it always has been, but the static<br />

pressure that will fracture the lithosphere, there<strong>by</strong> permitting the<br />

centrifugal momentum <strong>of</strong> the icecap to start moving the lithosphere,<br />

will be multiplied <strong>by</strong> 500.<br />

<strong>The</strong> wedge has been functioning ever since the first permanent<br />

snow fell on the Antarctic continent; it is functioning today. ... At<br />

the same time, die centrifugal momentum <strong>of</strong> the icecap is just stand-<br />

ing <strong>by</strong>, waiting for the lithosphere to fracture and be released for the<br />

journey toward the equator. <strong>The</strong> tensile strain will fade away with<br />

the faulting <strong>of</strong> the lithosphere, but should the fractures freeze up<br />

again from any cause, the tensile strain will tend to build up again,<br />

and the same series <strong>of</strong> actions will repeat themselves (66).<br />

We saw that the process that destroyed the Wisconsin ice*<br />

cap was several times interrupted and renewed in alternating<br />

withdrawals and readvances <strong>of</strong> the ice, which we have ex-<br />

plained as resulting from episodes <strong>of</strong> massive volcanism.<br />

<strong>The</strong>se phases appear to correspond to the alternating phases<br />

<strong>of</strong> the process <strong>of</strong> displacement as suggested <strong>by</strong> Campbell,<br />

which would naturally have been accompanied <strong>by</strong> volcanic<br />

activity.<br />

4. Some Difficulties<br />

A number <strong>of</strong> objections have been raised, in the course <strong>of</strong><br />

consultations with specialists, to the mechanism <strong>of</strong> displace-

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