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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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44<br />

EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST<br />

theories supposing a general fall <strong>of</strong> world temperatures during<br />

the ice ages. We have seen that ice ages existed in the tropics<br />

and that great icecaps covered vast areas on and near the<br />

equator. This happened not once, but several times. <strong>The</strong><br />

question is, if the temperature <strong>of</strong> the whole earth fell enough<br />

to permit ice sheets a mile thick to develop on the equator,<br />

just where did the fauna and flora go for refuge? How did<br />

they survive? How did the reef corals, which require a minimum<br />

sea-water temperature <strong>of</strong> 68 F. throughout the year,<br />

manage to survive? We know that the reef corals, for ex-<br />

ample, existed long before the period <strong>of</strong> the tropical ice<br />

sheets. Furthermore, we know that the great forests <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Carboniferous Period, which gave us most <strong>of</strong> our coal, lived<br />

both earlier than and contemporarily with the glaciations <strong>of</strong><br />

Africa and India, though in different places. Obviously, this<br />

would have been impossible if the temperature <strong>of</strong> the whole<br />

earth had been simultaneously reduced, for the equatorial<br />

zone itself would have been uninhabitable while all other<br />

areas were still colder. It is small wonder that W. B. Wright<br />

insisted, over a quarter <strong>of</strong> a century ago, that the Permo-<br />

Carboniferous ice sheets in Africa and India were pro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> a<br />

shift <strong>of</strong> the poles (461).<br />

4. <strong>The</strong> New Evidence <strong>of</strong> Radiocarbon Dating<br />

<strong>The</strong> problem <strong>of</strong> the causes <strong>of</strong> ice ages has been still further<br />

complicated <strong>by</strong> a recent revolution in our methods <strong>of</strong> dating<br />

geological events. In the course <strong>of</strong> the last ten years all <strong>of</strong><br />

our ideas regarding the dating <strong>of</strong> the recent ice ages, their<br />

durations, and the speed <strong>of</strong> growth and disappearance <strong>of</strong> the<br />

great ice sheets have been transformed. This is altogether the<br />

most important new development in the sciences <strong>of</strong> the earth.<br />

<strong>The</strong> repercussions in many directions are most remarkable.<br />

In order to get an idea <strong>of</strong> the extent <strong>of</strong> the change, let us<br />

see what the situation was only ten years ago. As everybody is<br />

aware, geologists are used to thinking in terms <strong>of</strong> millions <strong>of</strong>

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