Resolving the Problem of Atlantis

Michael Jaye, Ph.D.

Agenda

• The Problem of Atlantis

• An historic error: why we believe that there was not a worldwide flood

• New data, new thinking • Exposing consequences from the error • Identifying the cosmic impact that delivered a nearly unimaginable

amount of water

• Corroborating evidence from a variety of disciplines • Geology • Environmental Archaeology and Anthropology • Atlantis and its canal design

• Implications

The Problem of Atlantis

“…anyone associated with the term ‘Atlantis’ is likely to be viewed as a fantasist….”

The Problem of Atlantis

“Instead of beginning with Plato, most begin with a hypothesis and develop their ideas with an enthusiasm that often verges on fanaticism….”

The Problem of Atlantis

“Anyone reading and researching deeply into the distant past soon comes up against glaring anomalies in the currently accepted scenario of pre-history. Deluge myths are universal around the world….”

The Problem of Atlantis

“If the archaeological correspondence to Plato’s tale seems promising inside the Straits, the reverse is certainly true outside.

…We would seem to be left with only two alternatives: (1) to presume exaggeration on the part of one of the transmitters of the tale and situate Atlantis somewhere other than the Atlantic Ocean, or (2) presume outright invention and discard the idea of historical Atlantis altogether….”

A third alternative: withhold judgment.

“…It may be a change in our perception of what is, or was, possible that is wanted here. At the very least our perceptual field must be widened….”

The Problem of Atlantis

Plato’s description of Atlantis canal system

“… It was rectangular, and for the most part straight and oblong…. It was excavated to the depth of a hundred feet, and its breadth was a stadium everywhere; it was carried round the whole of the plain, and was ten thousand stadia in length….

It received the streams which came down from the mountains, and winding round the plain, and touching the city at various points, was there left off into the sea. From above, likewise, straight canals of a hundred feet in width were cut in the plain, and again let off into the ditch toward the sea; these canals were at intervals of a hundred stadia…, cutting transverse passages from one canal into another, and to the city.”

The depth and width and length of this ditch were incredible and gave the impression that such a work, in addition to so many other works, could hardly have been wrought by the hand of man.

http://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/bathymetry/

Plato’s claim: 10000 stadia = 1150 miles 24.5 * 45 = 1102 miles

100 stadia

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/atlantis-no-it-atlant-isnt.html

“… One theory that's gained more traction is that these marks might be the ruins of the lost city of Atlantis. If that were the case, some of the city blocks would have to be over eight miles long - that's about fifty times the size of a city block in New York City.

…In this case, the soundings produced by a ship are also about 1% deeper than the data we have in surrounding areas — likely an error — making the tracks stand out more.

…So, what if we really wanted to find Atlantis? We probably couldn't do it with satellites — man-made structures simply aren't big enough to be measured that way.”

- Posted by Walter Smith, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and David Sandwell, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego 23 Feb 2009

“…The depth and width and length of this ditch were incredible and gave the impression that such a work, in addition to so many other works, could hardly have been wrought by the hand of man.”

Why do scientists (geologists) believe as they do? Geological Society of London, late 1820s – early 1830s:

Reverend Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor of Geology, Cambridge Univ., Society’s President, leads debate: Was the whole of the Earth inundated? Diluvial records did not share a common event. Therefore, there was not a worldwide flood. Established a scientific paradigm: there was never a worldwide flood; the Earth has had all its water since nearly its beginning.

Why do scientists (geologists) believe as they do? Geological Society of London, late 1820s – early 1830s:

Reverend Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor of Geology, Cambridge Univ., Society’s President, leads debate: Was the whole of the Earth inundated? Diluvial records did not share a common event. Therefore, there was not a worldwide flood.

The conclusion should have been:

Presently exposed landscapes were not inundated by a presumed worldwide flood.

“…It may be a change in our perception of what is, or was, possible that is wanted here. At the very least our perceptual field must be widened….”

The Problem of Atlantis

Widening our perceptual field – Google Maps

Submerged drainages?

Submerged drainages?

Submerged drainages?

Submerged drainages?

Distinguishing features?

Only one is published as having been subaerially carved.

Catastrophic flood of the Mediterranean after the Messinian salinity crisis Nature 462, 778-781 (10 December 2009) D. Garcia-Castellanos, F. Estrada, I. Jiménez-Munt, C. Gorini, M. Fernàndez, J. Vergés & R. De Vicente

Only one is published as having been subaerially carved.

Submerged drainages in the western Mediterranean Sea

• Drainages were subaerially carved, not by subsurface processes.

• Carving ceases upon contact with large, stagnant reservoirs; the process does not continue subsurface (despite availability in depths).

Submerged drainages off coastal California

confluence

tributary

oxbow

landslide

Salinas River

Carmel River

tributary

Monterey Canyon

Combined system flowed toward terminus

tributary

tributary

Submerged drainages off coastal California

Carving had not ceased – combined drainage had yet to meet its terminal body of water.

Weather-driven Deep Ocean Flow Velocities and the Hjulstrom Curve

“The magnitude of mean currents at depth driven by the global wind fields are on the order of 1 cm/sec.… Deep ocean currents are a function of the scale of the ocean basins and the magnitude of the wind forcing for the general circulation estimate. Once the stratification of the ocean has been set by that process, it determines the fastest growing horizontal scales for instabilities, which lead to the typical 100-200 km across ocean eddies that represent the weather component. Their speeds at depth are ~10 cm/sec.”

- Jeffery Paduan, Ph. D., NPS Dean of Research, former Chair Oceanography Department

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hjulstr%C3%B6ms_diagram_en.PNG

Turbidity Currents

• Rapidly moving, sediment-laden water that travels down a slope due to gravity. Presumed to be caused by seismic activity.

• First observed in Monterey Canyon in late 1940s when the drainage system’s full extent was unknown.

• Presumed to be features’ creation mechanism (published, fits ‘no flood’ paradigm).

• Flows are rarely observed mainly for two reasons: the “difficulty in making measurements and observations on active or abandoned channels, and the probably long time scale, on the order of thousands of years, needed to develop these structures, that forbids the observation of processes on a human time scale” (Metivier, et al, “Submarine Canyons in the Bathtub,” Journal of Sedimentary Research, 2005).

Thus, the creation mechanism is inferred from laboratory or numerical experiments.

The lack of certainty that experimental inferences scale to geographic features leaves the creation mechanism unresolved.

Analysis

• Incorrect conclusion by the Geological Society of London causes geologists to twist facts to suit an incorrect paradigm:

- Turbidity flows could not create the serpentine features, nor could they remain focused over the distances and depths involved to create features like the Monterey Canyon drainage.

- Cause and effect are conflated: turbidity flows are consequences of the features, not their creation mechanism.

• As with the features in the Mediterranean, Monterey Canyon and similar drainage systems were subaerially carved. We have yet to identify the source of the covering waters.

• The drainage systems are well preserved → covered in a short period of time.

• For the substantial period of time required for flowing water to carve the now-submerged drainage systems - and the entire time preceding it, the Earth had substantially less water than the present.

• To cover the river systems by filling the ocean basins with over two miles of water requires an extra-terrestrial source - such a volume cannot be stored in frozen form at the planet’s poles (insufficient room, atmosphere only extends so far).

An extra-terrestrial water source?

Comet composition, formation The impact site, analysis, effects

A brief word about comets

𝐹 = 𝐺 𝑚 𝑀

𝑟2 Gravitational Attraction:

𝐹𝑚 = 𝑚 𝑎𝑚

⇒ 𝑚 𝑎𝑚 = 𝐺 𝑚 𝑀

𝑟2

⇒ 𝑎𝑚 = 𝐺 𝑀

𝑟2

2d Law:

- Believed to originate in distant Oort Clouds

- Dusty fragments (rock, dust) bonded by ice or other frozen gases

- Tempel1 (NASA’s Deep Impact): - predominantly open space (75%), 2/3 of mass is ice - “less strong than a snowbank” – Prof. M. A’Hearn, project lead

- Fragment easily (e.g. Ison’s recent disintegration)

A brief word about comets

- Conjecture: comets we observe are remnants of much larger bodies

• Dense object needed for formation’s gravitational sink in Oort Clouds (small, nucleus-free comets lack aggregating mechanism)

• Absence of solid nuclei (Rosetta, Tempel1, Ison, etc.)

• Irregularly shaped

• Fragmented over the eons of gravitational interactions

- Believed to originate in distant Oort Clouds

- Dusty fragments (rock, dust) bonded by ice or other frozen gases

- Tempel1 (NASA’s Deep Impact): - predominantly open space (75%), 2/3 of mass is ice - “less strong than a snowbank” – Prof. M. A’Hearn, project lead

- Fragment easily (e.g. Ison’s recent disintegration)

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/Pluto_Core.jpg

Pluto = Comet Source

Diameter = 2400 km

What if an object like this were to hit Earth? Effects?

Diameter = 2400 km

The Impact Site

Remnant diameter is on order of 2500 km. Since the outer layer was porous and an amalgamation of ice and rock, the impact causes its disintegration and less damage to the planet than might otherwise be expected.

The Impact Site

The gap in the crescent center is likely due to entry and fragmentation effects.

The Impact Site

The approximately 75 km wide by 1000 km long trough was scoured by the solid nucleus.

Comet Impact Site

This relief map depicts raised regions in the impact crescent interior that contain solid materials borne and deposited by the comet.

Comet Impact Site

The object’s nucleus material came to rest in the circled region.

Comet Impact Site

Deposit mounds and the nucleus-gouged trough correspond to the most intense magnetic anomalies (red); minerals strewn nearly 1500 km through the crescent gap are evident.

Comet Impact Site

Comet Impact Site

Comet Impact Site

http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/scholz-star/

How did this object get here? Astronomers identify the closest known flyby of a star to our solar system: a dim star that passed through the Oort Cloud 70,000 years ago A group of astronomers from the US, Europe, Chile and South Africa have determined that 70,000 years ago a recently discovered dim star is likely to have passed through the solar system’s distant cloud of comets, the Oort Cloud. No other star is known to have ever approached our solar system this close – five times closer than the current closest star, Proxima Centauri. In a paper published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, lead author Eric Mamajek from the University of Rochester and his collaborators analyzed the velocity and trajectory of a low-mass star system nicknamed “Scholz’s star.” … In fact, the astronomers explain in the paper that they are 98% certain that it went through what is known as the “outer Oort Cloud” – a region at the edge of the solar system filled with trillions of comets a mile or more across that are thought to give rise to long-period comets orbiting the Sun after their orbits are perturbed….

The equivalent water volume estimate:

• Assume that the impacting object was spherical, diameter = 2500 km, then its volume = 8.18*109 km3

• Assume that the impacting object’s outer layer was similar in composition to Tempel1, that is porous, ~ 75% open space, 2/3 of mass is ice

• Impacting object’s equivalent water volume ~ 1.29*109 km3 (this accounts for the volumetric difference between ice and water)

• Ocean total surface area 3.62*108 km2

• Impacting object’s volume yields an average ocean depth of 3.57 km, very close to Earth’s average ocean depth estimate of 4.3 km.

The Earth had sizeable water reservoirs prior to the comet impact, but the seas were unconnected.

Pre-impact Earth, an approximation

Blue: extent of oceans and seas. Dark tan: exposed landscapes.

Important notes: There were substantial oceans and seas (disconnected) prior to the impact. It is interesting to consider atmospheric effects (i.e. PV = nRT).

Map created by Kristen Tsolis; data obtained from http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/global.html

Impact Effects

• “Nano-diamond-rich layer across three continents consistent with major cosmic impact at 12,800 Cal BP” The Journal of Geology, published online 26Aug2014.

“…We conclusively have identified a thin layer … that contains a rich assemblage of nanodiamonds, the production of which can be explained only by a cosmic impact.”

• Rapid event (in geologic terms) preserves evidence in bathymetry

- Monterey Canyon, other drainages found along coastal margins

- Atlantis canal system

- “…at the same time there were earthquakes, and then occurred the extraordinary inundation….” - Plato

Other Evidence

• IODP and other agencies’ core samples from interior & exterior of impact crescent

• Human witnesses, artefacts.

Cores obtained from the vast impact region might be compared to cores from the exterior.

Supporting Evidence

Map of available core information

From http://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/sample_index/

“…These solid ingredients include many standard comet components, such as silicates, or sand. And like any good recipe, there are also surprise ingredients, such as clay and chemicals in seashells called carbonates. These compounds were unexpected because they are thought to require liquid water to form.” "How did clay and carbonates form in frozen comets?" asked Lisse. "We don't know, but their presence may imply that the primordial solar system was thoroughly mixed together, allowing material formed near the Sun where water is liquid, and frozen material from out by Uranus and Neptune, to be included in the same body." Also found were chemicals never seen before in comets, such as iron-bearing compounds and aromatic hydrocarbons, found in barbecue pits and automobile exhaust on Earth. The silicates spotted by Spitzer are crystallized grains even smaller than sand, like crushed gems. One of these silicates is a mineral called olivine, found on the glimmering shores of Hawaii's Green Sands Beach. Planets, comets and asteroids were all born out of a thick soup of chemicals that surrounded our young Sun about 4.5 billion years ago. Because comets formed in the outer, chilly regions of our solar system, some of this early planetary material is still frozen inside them…. "Now, we can stop guessing at what's inside comets," said Dr. Mike A'Hearn, principal investigator for the Deep Impact mission, University of Maryland, College Park. "This information is invaluable for piecing together how our own planets as well as other distant worlds may have formed.”

NASA - NASA's Spitzer and Deep Impact Build Recipe for Comet Soup Sept 7, 2005

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Crescent Interior Core Data

Data obtained from http://iodp.tamu.edu/janusweb/general/dbtable.cgi?leg=183

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Crescent Exterior Core Data

“Opaque, dark material, probably manganese abound; volcanic particles are mainly composed of angular augite crystals and feldspar plus yellowish-olive glass fragments….”

“Zones contain some olive brown volcanic fragments and very rare irregular quartz; disseminated manganese; intense manganese oxide concentration; very rare manganese micronodules and olive brown vesicular volcanic glass shards are present at scattered intervals; some olive brown volcanic glass and rare irregular quartz occur….”

Descriptions of cores from another agency:

Core interior to crescent

“…Quartz igneous roc frags (basic), igneous rock frags (acidic), disseminated volcanic glass shards, manganese oxide (disseminated), manganese nodules, magnetite.”

Descriptions of cores from another agency:

“…Quartz dark minerals, igneous rock frags (basic), disseminated volcanic glass shards, pumice, scoria, manganese oxide (disseminated), manganese nodules.”

confluence

Supporting Evidence

The core obtained from this channel bed near the confluence of two former drainage systems is void. It contains no solid materials because sandy sediments are difficult if not impossible to collect by traditional coring techniques. (I visited the core, disappointed by its emptiness.)

From http://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/sample_index/

Supporting Evidence

terraces

Supporting Evidence

Recovering impacting object’s core nucleus materials.

IODP: “It is thinking like this that moves science forward. However, it is so contrary to accepted geology that we have no choice but to reject the proposal.”

Supporting Evidence

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Crescent Exterior Core Data

Rocks in surf, those protruding from beach, and those well above the beach (foreground) all show identical erosion. This would be impossible had the rocks in the ocean been exposed to pounding surf for eons; the relatively recent impact accounts for the similarities.

Supporting Evidence

Supporting Evidence

Supporting Evidence – Environmental Archaeology

“In Masse’s interpretation, the petroglyph commemorates a comet that streaked across the sky…. Masse believes he has uncovered evidence that a gigantic comet crashed into the Indian Ocean several thousand years ago…. What’s more, he thinks that clues about the catastrophe are hiding in plain sight, embedded in the creation stories of cultural groups around the world.”

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/nov/did-a-comet-cause-the-great-flood

Environmental Archaeology: Monte Verde

…the Monte Verde site in Chile conclusively places humans in South America between 12,400 and 12,800 years before the present…. Excavation and research prove the earliest occurrence of dwelling construction in the New World and a cache of perishable materials including clay-lined fire pits, chunks of animal meat and hide, pieces of wild potato, a variety of plants, wooden tools, Mastadon bones, and the timber outline of twelve residential structures and a large communal hall….

Environmental Archaeology: The Haida

There is some debate about how people arrived on the Islands but what is certain is that possibly as far back as 13,000 years ago a group of people inhabited these Islands and developed a culture made rich by the abundance of the land and sea. These people became the Haida, a linguistically distinct group with a complex class and rank system consisting of two main clans, Eagles and Ravens.

Noted seafarers, the Haida occupied more than 100 villages throughout the Islands and were skilled traders, with established trade links with their neighboring First Nations on the mainland and farther a field. The Haida had a stable existence and vibrant culture at the time of European contact.

“…His (Quentin Mackie’s) team has been looking for proof of the earliest human presence in North America for decades, and what they think they’ve found is a fishing weir (a man-made rock formation) on the bottom of Juan Perez Sound under 122 meters of water. There are other formations on the sea floor that the team thinks are the sites of ancient camps of the same age….”

Environmental Archaeology: Haida Gwaii

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/12/18/archaeologists-discover-13800-year-old-underwater-site-haida-gwaii-158323

Validation – Haida Gwaii

As the Mediterranean Sea filled through the Strait of Gibraltar, the relentlessly rising ocean waters stopped. Survivors began adjusting – hence the Haida Gwaii remnants in 122m of water. Once filled, the oceans’ waters began to rise yet again, causing survivors to flee to higher elevations until the meltwaters were completely added to Earth’s ecosystem.

“This paper makes the case that endangered indigenous languages can be repositories for factual knowledge across time depths far greater than previously imagined,” the researchers wrote in their paper, “forcing a rethink of the ways in which such traditions have been dismissed.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-sea-rise-tale-told-accurately-for-10-000-years/

Environmental Anthropology: Aboriginal Australian stories

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-sea-rise-tale-told-accurately-for-10-000-years/

Environmental Anthropology: Aboriginal Australian stories

“Stories by the original residents of Australia’s northeastern coastline tell of a river that entered the sea at what is now Fitzroy Island ... and of a time when seas were lower than they are today, placing the story’s roots at as many as 12,600 years ago….”

Environmental Anthropology: Vanished Islands of the Pacific

Marquesan aphorism:

“Who would have thought to bury the great earth in a roaring flood?”

Validation – Human Activity in the Abyss

Plato: “…at the same time there were earthquakes, and then occurred the extraordinary inundation….”

Atlantis

Validation – Human Activity in the Abyss

Atlantis

I seek interested parties with the means to organize an expedition directed toward validating the existence of the canals as well as to discover and explore other remnants such as buildings and pyramids.

Inner Canal System

Outer Drainage Canal

Outer Drainage Canals

Protective Wall?

Further investigation: Canal Design Drainage Runoff

Years before present

Temp, oC

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/jouzel2007/jouzel2007.html

Earth Temperature Record

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Earth Temperature Record Temp, oC

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Impact, Flood

Emigration?

Inner Canal System

Outer Drainage Canal

Outer Drainage Canals

Canal Analysis – Effects from Melting Ice Caps

Drainage Runoff

Other Locations of Interest

Other Locations of Interest

“… They made the building a marvel to behold for size and for beauty…. Poseidon’s temple which had a strange barbaric appearance. All the outside of the temple, with the exception of the pinnacles, they covered with silver, and the pinnacles with gold… and the palaces, in like manner, answered to the greatness of the kingdom and the glory of the temple.” - Plato

Implications

• Most of human history is buried under more than 3 km (2 miles) of water.

• Ubiquitous accounts of a worldwide flood correctly recount Earth and human history.

• This was an extinction event, and original inhabitants of presently occupied landscapes are adjusting to the new environment as well as to newly introduced species.

• The impact’s waters account for why human activity seems to have appeared so suddenly and recently in lands that were mostly or completely unoccupied by humans prior to the impact. Humans are not “out of Africa.”

• The planet on which humans evolved is vastly changed. Alternatively: we are ill-adapted for the post-impact Earth ecosystem.

Implications, continued

• Geology will have to reform, particularly submarine geomorphology.

(What else might be wrong? For instance, could swirling currents in the center of the planet somehow move continents? We believe that, too, don’t we?)

• Cosmology should consider that the small comets we observe are fragments of

comet-source objects (Pluto-like?). Thus, an investigation of the impacting object’s core remnants and its debris fields could yield a more informed understanding about their nature and formation.

• The Earth will enter its next ice age with more water than at any time in its history. But will there be another ice age?

Conclusion: New data correct an historic scientific error • Approximately 13,000 years before present a cosmic impact

delivered more than 3 km to average ocean depths. There was a worldwide flood.

• Major effect: an Earth ecosystem vastly different from its predecessor. Surviving species are adapting.

• Impact explains the recently discovered nanodiamond layer, seemingly recent appearance of humans, ubiquitous flood accounts, human need for artificial environments, etc.

• Our perceptual field has been widened, and we have resolved “The Problem of Atlantis.” The city’s remnants might be investigated given sufficient resources.

• The Earth is round, it goes around the Sun, and it recently became the Blue Planet.

Atlantis

Let us explore and discover.