Pole shift theory
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A pole shift theory is a hypothesis based on geologic evidence that the physical north and south poles of Earth have not always been at their present-day locations; in other words, the axis of rotation had been "shifted". Pole shift theory is almost always discussed in the context of Earth, but other solar system bodies may have experienced axial reorientation during their existences.
One early popular proponent of a pole shift theory was Charles Hapgood in his books The Earth's Shifting Crust (1958) (which includes a foreword by Albert Einstein) and Path of the Pole (1970). Hapgood speculated that the ice mass at one or both poles over-accumulates which destabilizes the earth's rotational balance, causing slippage of all or much of earth's outer crust around the earth's core, which retains its axial orientation.
This happens either slowly (conservative version) or quickly (radical version). The results of the shift occurring every 12,000 to 20,000 years or so results in dramatic climate changes for most of the earth's surface as areas that were formally equatorial become temperate, and areas that were temperate become either more equatorial or more arctic.
Hapgood wrote to Canadian librarian, Rand Flem-Ath, encouraging him in his pursuit of scientific evidence to back Hapgood's claim and in his expansion of the theory. Flem-Ath published the results of this work in 1995 in "When the Sky Fell" co-written with his wife, Rose.
Other theories which are not dependent upon polar ice masses include:
A high-velocity asteroid or comet which hits Earth at such an angle that the lithosphere moves independent of the mantle
An unusually magnetic celestial object which passes close enough to Earth to temporarily reorient the magnetic field, which then "drags" the lithosphere about a new axis of rotation. Eventually, the sun's magnetic field again determines the Earth's, after the intruding celestial object "returns" to a location it cannot influence Earth.
• Perturbations of the topography of the core-mantle boundary, perhaps induced by differential core rotation and shift of its axial rotation vector, leading to CMB mass redistributions. See, e.g., Bowin.[1]
• Mass redistributions in the mantle from mantle avalanches or other deformations. See, e.g., Ladbury, [2] and Steinberger and O'Connell.[3]
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External links
Much work on this subject has been done by William Hutton and can be found at The Hutton Commentaries.
William Hutton and Jonathan Eagle in 2004 published Earth's Catastrophic Past and Future, which summarizes and extends their earlier work on possible mechanisms and timing of a future pole shift. [4]
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See Also:
Doomsday
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Notes
^ Carl Bowin, "Mass anomaly structure of the Earth," Reviews of Geophysics 38(3; August 2000):355-387.
^ R. Ladbury, "Model suggests deep-mantle topography goes with the flow," Physics Today, August 1999, 21-24.
^ B. Steinberger and R. J. O'Connell, "Changes of the Earth's rotation axis owing to advection of mantle density heterogeneities," Nature 387(May 8 1997):169.
^ William Hutton and Jonathan Eagle, Earth's Catastrophic Past and Future: A Scientific Analysis of Information Channeled by Edgar Cayce, Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers (August 30, 2004), 598 p. ISBN: 1581125178. Foreword, Index, and Appendices.
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