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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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38<br />

EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST<br />

sunny August day in North America. <strong>The</strong> dry, wilting glare and<br />

perspiration made the thought <strong>of</strong> an ice sheet thousands <strong>of</strong> feet thick<br />

at that very spot most incredible, but most alluring (87:124).<br />

When these facts were established, geologists sought to explain<br />

them <strong>by</strong> assuming that, at periods when these areas<br />

were glaciated, they were elevated much higher above sea<br />

level than they are now. <strong>The</strong>oretically, even an area near<br />

the equator, if elevated several miles above sea level, would<br />

be cold enough for an ice sheet. What made the theory plausible<br />

was the well-known fact that the elevations <strong>of</strong> all the<br />

lands <strong>of</strong> the globe have changed repeatedly and drastically<br />

during the course <strong>of</strong> geological history. Unfortunately for<br />

those who tried to explain the misplaced icecaps in this way,<br />

however, Coleman showed that they reached sea level, within<br />

the tropics, on three continents: Asia, Africa, and Australia<br />

(87:129, 134, 140, 168, 183). At the same time, W. J. Hum-<br />

phreys, in his examination <strong>of</strong> the meteorological<br />

factors <strong>of</strong><br />

glaciation, made the point that high elevation means less<br />

moisture in the air, as well as lowered temperature, and is<br />

therefore unfavorable for the accumulation <strong>of</strong> great icecaps<br />

(232:612-13).<br />

5. World-wide Phases <strong>of</strong> Cold Weather<br />

A widely accepted assumption with which contemporary<br />

geologists approach the question <strong>of</strong> ice ages is that the latter<br />

occurred as the result <strong>of</strong> a lowering <strong>of</strong> the average temperature<br />

<strong>of</strong> the whole surface <strong>of</strong> the earth at the same time. This<br />

assumption has forced them to look for a cause <strong>of</strong> glacial<br />

periods only in such possible factors as could operate to cool<br />

the whole surface <strong>of</strong> the earth at once. It has also compelled<br />

them to maintain the view that glacial periods have always<br />

been simultaneous in the Northern and Southern Hemi-<br />

spheres.<br />

It is remarkable that this assumption has been maintained<br />

over a long period <strong>of</strong> time despite the fact that it is in sharp

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