I once watched a DVD about the myth of Atlantis. One hypothesis says that Atlantis is now below the South Pole. Einstein would have supported this hypothesis by the orange peel theory. He meant by this that the earth’s crust slides over the asthenosphere (I think), so that Atlantis would have come from a tropical climate under the ice caps. Is this possible?
Answer
This is not possible. Atlantis is, to begin with, pure mythology. Second, what is being referred to is the so-called ‘plate tectonics’. The earth’s crust is broken up into pieces (plates) that, as it were, float on the flowing core of the earth. In some places they collide and form mountains (e.g. the Himalayas where the Indian plate collides with the Asian plate), in some places they drift apart, creating deep ‘pits’ that fill with water (e.g. the Atlantic Ocean, caused by the drifting apart of Africa and Europe on the one hand, and America on the other).
However, the movement of tectonic plates is extremely slow (an average of 0.5 to 8.5 cm per year).
Answered by
dr. Maarten Loopmans
Social and political geography Spatial planning spatial planning
Quai de l’Industrie 170 B-1070 Brussels
http://www.erasmushogeschool.be/
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