User:RAYLEIGH22/sandbox

NOTE: '' Time frames of assumed historical story sequences in the Atlantis Location Hypothesis cannot be exact. The closer they come to congruence with Plato's writings and the results of the modern-day documented and accepted research, the more reliable they may be considered to be. This goes without saying. However, the logical sequences of the suppositions of chronological occurrences DO and MUST follow the descriptions. For example. The sinking of Atlantis beneath the surface of the water had to occur AFTER the wars with the older civilizations in the Mediterranean basin and also in the Doggerland and North Sea Areas between the Atlantean Armies and the people who occupied those areas. Therefore, a date of 12,000 BCE reasonable error of flooding of the Aegean basin should not be a problem for the flooding of the Aegean Sea basin. Plato's inability to Plato's writings just says Atlantis sank 9,000 years before Timaeus and Critias made the trip to the Library of the Egyptian Priests to confirm Solon's story of Atlantis sinking in 11,700 BCE as a chronological history. When we assume that a mountain range in Yellowstone National Park was partially consumed into the magma chamber emptied by a supereruption of the known volcano at Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming in the USA, then you must accept that 600,000 years BCE is an approximate date for that occurrence. But when an account by Plato and a date of 11,700 years for the end of the Holocene Epoch corresponds to less than 3% difference, arguments that 800 - 300 years must be weighed by reason and possibility of error. If one read Plato's Timaeus and Critias and used it in an argument, It would be helpful. If not, it seems that we have nothing constructive to establish an exact correlation to change the assumption of the chronological order of occurrence in the time sequences.''

RAYLEIGH22 (discuss • contribs) 19:41, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

organizational changes

ORGANIZED Atlantis Location Hypothesis
The original Atlantis Location Hypothesis may be found at Title=Atlantis Location Hypothesis. -- []

ABSTRACT
Much has been written about Atlantis since Plato's Timaeus and Critias discussions were written down over 2,400 years ago. The Atlantis Location Hypothesis takes Plato's two works as documents of history. From this record the search for Atlantis the island in the Atlantic Ocean just as Plato Described will be initiated and a hypothesis with evidence will be submitted. Using scientific methods, research and principles we are establishing Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean using these principles during the time Plato said it was there approximately 12,000 years ago. The modern sciences of today and very recent scientific climate and sea level change will help to establish the geography lesson of Plato. Of course, his justifications are not the point here. The point is that the written and the oral records of humanity such as we have from Plato are important and will lead to revelations today that have been doubted by some of the greatest minds of the last 2,400 years or more.



PREFACE
The main premise of climate change is that weather patterns and ocean levels are not constant over time. Unlike the speculation regarding possible Atlantis locations on Wikipedia derived from careful work in archaeological ruins still above water today, this location hypothesis depends upon the emerging field of climate change which fits Plato's timeline stated in his writings. Using the ideas that have been mentioned, we incorporate that the most recent past ice age ended at the same approximate time as Plato's works claimed that the island of Atlantis disappeared in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Our location for Atlantis will not be on dry land. Rather, our location for Atlantis will be under water in the Atlantic where Plato said that Atlantis once existed before waters of the Atlantic Ocean covered it. All manner of scientific method, past and recent research, chemical and geological analysis, and accepted ideas in the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Geology, Sociology, Medicine and Anthropology will be called upon to help establish the hypothesis through evidence.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to acknowledge the following for their contributions to the Atlantis Location Hypothesis: DougWeller, who stimulated me to look into the Azores archipelago as the location for Atlantis with his kind but firm opposition. Sidelight12 for his advice to move to Wikiversity and consent to be a coauthor and his other contributions that are too numerous to mention. Dave Braunschweig who is responsible for rescuing the Atlantis Location Hypothesis and moving it to Wikiversity, his kind assistance to me and his contributions that are too numerous to list here. Entrepic for his contribution regarding the effects of the mass of the glacial ice and the effects of the weight it exerted on the Earth. Marshallsumter for his reviews, contributions, support and advice. Marshallsumter has made many suggestions that are impressive to me and that are making significant improvements.

INTRODUCTION
This is a meta analysis of existing scientific research. Within the Atlantis Location Hypothesis exists several supporting hypotheses or in some cases theories like Climate Change. 97% of scientists agree that Climate Change is real and it is happening. Climate change science contributes significantly to this Atlantis location hypothesis. Climate Change tells us in no uncertain terms that the level of the oceans is not constant. Ocean levels and coastlines are NOT stable with time, and significant changes have occurred before written history that have relegated these facts to the oral tradition of mankind. Plato's story of Atlantis in Critias and Timaeus was not his story. It was a story relayed to him through an Egyptian priest. Although there are accounts of this story being written down in other places, those accounts are lost to history as is the end of Plato's dialogue Critias.

This meta analysis shall present scientific research which demonstrates that areas in Mid Atlantic Rift (MAR) were above sea level during the most resent ice age. This land disappeared as did land on the continental shelves throughout the world when glaciers melted and the melt water drained into the oceans. With the pressure of the glacier ice gone the land it covered has exhibited and is still exhibiting rebound. The release of this pressure has cause the ocean basins to deepen and coastlines all over the world to change. Sometimes the changes were sudden, sometimes they were gradual and sometimes they were even hit and miss. Eventually, the coastlines settled into the familiar patterns of the modern world.

OCEAN LEVELS AND COASTLINES ARE NOT STABLE WITH TIME
Modern sea levels are NOT stable over time. The levels of the oceans of today have existed for only about 3,000 years. Before that the coastlines were much farther into the oceans and seas of the world than we see today. Those areas that were coastline then are now below water. The levels of the oceans of the world were 100 meters lower where the mass of the glaciers did not affect the subsidence of the land. In those areas subsidence of the plates of the lithosphere over land in effect pressurizing the ocean bottoms and causing them to rise. The water was contained in massive glaciers that covered the northern and southern regions of the world. 20,000 years ago during the Pleistocene age (also called the “Ice Age”) global temperatures were and the weather patterns were much different. In those areas covered by the extensive glaciation, obviously, the temperatures stayed cold in their respective seasonal cycles to prevent the winter snows from melting completely. This, in part, helped to form the glaciers.

Recent research is proposing that the increased ice in glaciers was being caused by the Earth’s volcanic activity. Although this is an area of recent research we know that sea levels and resultant floods are told in folklore and oral tradition all over the world. In fact, it appears in Plato’s writings. The historical part of early writings which science is confirming contain accurate historical descriptions are accurate descriptions of the conditions of the world in earlier times. However, these writings are not capable of accurately characterizing the chronological aspect of the historical record and that chronological aspect must be fixed scientifically to be reliable.

HISTORY FROM PLATO'S DIALOGUE "CRITIAS" that fixes the time of Atlantis' demise
"Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of years which had elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place between those who dwelt outside the Pillars of Heracles and all who dwelt within them..."

"Plato's final years were spent at the Academy and with his writing. The circumstances surrounding his death are clouded, though it is fairly certain that he died in Athens around 348 B.C.E., when he was in his early 80s."

This year is 2017. 9000 + 348 + 2017 = 11,365 years before present

However, "Sometime around 385 B.C.E., Plato founded a school of learning, known as the Academy, which he presided over until his death."

Plato established the Academy and he taught there 37 years before his death in his early 80's, which could add as much as 37 years to the demise of Atlantis. So the demise of Atlantis from this could mean 11,402 years ago for the demise of Atlantis.

"The Holocene is the name given to the last 11,700 years* of the Earth's history — the time since the end of the last major glacial epoch, or 'ice age.'"

The range of error of correlation between these two dates from different sources is from 298 years to 335 years because of Plato's career range with the Academy. 11,700 - 11,365 = 335 difference, the largest error, the error is 335 / 11,700 X 100 equals roughly between 2 - 3 % or calculation yields 2.8632479% to 10 decimal places. If I were to apply statistical calculations we could rely upon mathematical correlation without question that Atlantis' demise was at the end of the most recent ice age or at the end of the Holocene Epoch according to Plato.

HYPOTHESIS PART I : ATLANTIS OR THE ISLAND CALLED ATLANTIS WAS THE AZORES PLATEAU OR SEAMOUNT WHICH WAS ABOVE THE WATER
FACTS SUPPORTING THIS HYPOTHESIS ARE AS FOLLOWS

DOCUMENTATION OF THE SIZE OF ATLANTIS
"...Atlantis, which, as was saying, was an island greater in extent than Libya and Asia,..."



Asia and Libya combined would be approximately the size of the Azores Plateau and the islands West of the Pillars of Herceles. Click on the map to see a larger version. (The above map is from Ortelius "Parergon" published in 1624. Credit: Abraham Ortelius.

The map below confirms that Libya was the limited to the Cyrene peninsula in the time of Plato. Therefore, the areas of the world Plato describes are, indeed, of similar size to the Azores Plateau or Seamount that had not yet experienced "subsidence" according to Plato. (Note: The word "subsidence" appears at the end of paragraph 40, counting each paragraph whether it be a short line of the conversation or a large paragraph.)



SEA LEVEL CHANGE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN
M. Ewing wrote that beach sand from prehistoric times was brought up in two deep sea cores, one from 3 km and the other from 5.5 km. These two cores came from an area over 1000 km from the coast on the Mid-Atlantic-Ridge. There were two layers in one core of sand which dated according to sedimentation rates at 20,000 to 100,000 years and in the other at 225,000 to 325,000 years.

R.W.Kobe found numerous diatoms from freshwater on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from several cores that were taken over 900 km distance from the coast of Equatorial West Africa. He claimed that this was evidence that the area in question was islands 10 – 12,000 years ago. The diatoms that he found he said were deposited as sediment in fresh water lakes which were later inundated under 3km of sea water. He states that this was a more plausible explanation than the claim that turbidity currents had moved the diatoms 930 km along the sea bottom and then lifted them up over 1000 km and deposited them on a the top of a submerged hill.

B.C. Heezen et. al. reports that at 37 degrees North the Atlantis seamount located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is flat topped at a depth of around 180 fathoms and has a current-rippled sand and or cobbles. Around a ton of limestone cobbles were brought up from the summit a sample of which gave a radio-carbon date of 12,000+/- 900 years. B.C. Heezen and colleagues states that that the limestone was lithified in a location above the water and that his is evidence that the seamount had once been an island but was submerged in the last 12,000 years

MAPS DEPICTING THE LANDSCAPES FROM TODAY, PLATO'S TIME AND FROM THE TIME OF ATLANTIS APPROXIMATELY 12,000 YEARS AGO
The following map reveals that the elevation of the Azores plateau plus much of the Mid Atlantic Ridge is no deeper than 656 feet or 200 meters today below the Atlantic ocean surface.



A larger version. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Atlantic_bathymetry.jpg

Even today, the depth is not that great. However, we must consider the most recent ice age when a glacial mass of a 2-4 km of ice on top of Canada, the Great Lakes and New England regions of the US, Northern Europe, Northern Russia, and Northwest Siberia. This is equivalent to an ocean on top of the northern continents. Additional glacial weight would have been exerted on the southern Andes, and on mountains throughout the world. The melting of the glaciers over North America that were estimated to be up to 8,000 feet thick over Hudson Bay resulted in a land rise or rebound of 935 feet of rebound (isostatic rebound) meaning the ground in North America that was under the ice rose after the ice melted according to John P. Bluemle of the North Dakota Geological Survey.

Looking at the larger bathymetry map please note that the depths are color-coded. As you can see, the surface of the Azores massif (or plateau) is the same color as the borders of Florida and also the Iberian Peninsula. Note that Florida's coast contained by the black line and the lightest blue color was dry land. It is easy to make the connection that if areas in Florida were not below water then neither was the Azores plateau.

As shown in the Iberian margins, sea level during the last major glaciation may have been at or just above the yellow band on these bathymetry maps indicating a large number of islands outside the pillars of Hercules as well as the Azores microplate were near or just above sea level. Apparently, these did not sink but may have been submerged or more so as the glaciers began to melt.

So, as we have shown evidence, the "islands" beyond the "Pillars of Herceles" and many other areas that are now underwater or on a continental shelf was above the surface of the Atlantic Ocean approximately 12,000 years ago, as described in Critias and Timaeus.

NORTH WEST AFRICAN CONTINENTAL SHELVES (this entire excellent section was created by Marshallsumter)
There is an apparently small continental shelf along the northwest African coast.

Iberian margins In the images on the left, sea level during the last glaciation is likely at or above the yellow contour band. This appears to be the sea level delimiter in the second image down on the right.

Moroccan shelves The first image on the right shows a currently submerged mountain range and associated islands directly in front of the Pillars of Hercules just further west. These may have been above sea level during the previous 50 kyrs ice age.

Mauritanian continental shelves The "sedimentary processes along the shelf are driven by long-term factors such as Quaternary glacial–interglacial periods and shelf morphology, and by short-term factors such as fluvial and aeolian sediment supply, local climate (temperature, rainfall and wind) and hydrodynamic conditions (tides, swell, longshore current, the Canary Current and upwelling)."

Canary Island seamount province "The Canary Island Seamount Province forms a scattered hotspot track on the Atlantic ocean floor ~1300 km long and ~350 km wide, perpendicular to lithospheric fractures, and parallel to the NW African continental margin. New 40Ar/39Ar datings show that seamount ages vary from 133 Ma to 0.2 Ma in the central archipelago, and from 142 Ma to 91 Ma in the southwest."

Shallow "mantle upwelling beneath the Atlantic Ocean basin off the NW African continental lithosphere flanks produced recurrent melting anomalies and seamounts from the Late Jurassic to Recent".

Azores microplates "Archaeologists from the Portuguese Association of Archaeological Research (APIA) have identified [a great variety of protohistoric pyramidal rock structures, some of them 13 meters tall] on Pico island that supports their belief that human occupation of the Azores predates the arrival of the Portuguese by many thousands of years."

The "Madalena pyramidal structures, known by the locals as “maroiços,” are analogous to similar protohistoric structures found in Sicily, North Africa and the Canary islands which are known to have served ritual purposes."

The diagram on the right shows the Azores current as it is deflected by the islands from the Gulf stream about 2014.

The second image down on the right shows the Azores as nine islands that occupy a triple junction between the North American, African and Eurasian Plate, a spreading center bound by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on the west and the Terceira Rift on the NE and the East Azores Fracture Zone to the SE. From the structure shown, the microplate though thick has undergone extensive fracturing. If at one time it was at or near sea level, it could have blocked a significant portion of the Gulf stream, diverted a major portion toward northwest Africa, or diverted most of the stream north of Scotland into the Norwegian coast. The microplate likely broke apart and subsided in a west to east manner.

The second image on the left is a more geostructurally detailed topographic map of the entire Azores microplate. It clearly shows how the forming of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge underneath has torn the microplate apart along the ridge and approximately perpendicular to it. The orange to brown band is the 1,000 m to sea level band. White is currently above sea level. The yellow band is the 2,000 m to 1,000 m band. It surrounds much of the brown zone and suggests an almost square plateau.

The third image down on the left shows two rows or walls of similarly sized volcanic rock crossing the field of view like those used to make the Pico pyramids.

North Atlantic Ridge The image on the right shows the topography west of north western Africa out to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It clearly shows the impact the ridge had on the Azores microplate, breaking it into parts on either side of the ridge.

See also


 * Paleanthropology

Description of the Geography of the Areas known as Greece During the Atlantean War 12,000 Years Ago as Described in Critias
The following quotes in italics are directly from Plato's Critias. The description is of the geography of the area of the Middle East that is now Turkey, Greece and the Agean Sea

''"Concerning the country the Egyptian priests said what is not only probable but manifestly true, that the boundaries were in those days fixed by the Isthmus, and that in the direction of the continent they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes; the boundary line came down in the direction of the sea, having the district of Oropus on the right, and with the river Asopus as the limit on the left. The land was the best in the world, and was therefore able in those days to support a vast army, raised from the surrounding people. Even the remnant of Attica which now exists may compare with any region in the world for the variety and excellence of its fruits and the suitableness of its pastures to every sort of animal, which proves what I am saying; but in those days the country was fair as now and yielded far more abundant produce. How shall I establish my words? and what part of it can be truly called a remnant of the land that then was? The whole country is only a long promontory extending far into the sea away from the rest of the continent, while the surrounding basin of the sea is everywhere deep in the neighbourhood of the shore. (paragraph 9)"''

Carefully observe that the area described in Plato's Critias that is the present day Agean Sea between Greece and Turkey was in those days dry land on the map below. Furthermore, Plato's Critias describes the area as a fertile valley and gives the larger region a name, Attica. This area inhabited by the ancestors of the people of Greece was a well-populated country with a significant military force that according to Critias had both defended liberated the lands on the Mediterranean side of the Pillars of Heracles.



As described in the blockquote from Plato's Critias below the same cataclysm that flooded Atlantis also claimed this area of Attica and the lives of the predecessors of the Grecian cultures of Plato's time. Undoubtedly, the traditions carried on but as a world power this society perished simultaneously with the Atlantis culture.

''"Many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years, for that is the number of years which have elapsed since the time of which I am speaking; and during all this time and through so many changes, there has never been any considerable accumulation of the soil coming down from the mountains, as in other places, but the earth has fallen away all round and sunk out of sight. The consequence is, that in comparison of what then was, there are remaining only the bones of the wasted body, as they may be called, as in the case of small islands, all the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen away, and the mere skeleton of the land being left. But in the primitive state of the country, its mountains were high hills covered with soil, and the plains, as they are termed by us, of Phelleus were full of rich earth, and there was abundance of wood in the mountains. Of this last the traces still remain, for although some of the mountains now only afford sustenance to bees, not so very long ago there were still to be seen roofs of timber cut from trees growing there, which were of a size sufficient to cover the largest houses; and there were many other high trees, cultivated by man and bearing abundance of food for cattle. Moreover, the land reaped the benefit of the annual rainfall, not as now losing the water which flows off the bare earth into the sea, but, having an abundant supply in all places, and receiving it into herself and treasuring it up in the close clay soil, it let off into the hollows the streams which it absorbed from the heights, providing everywhere abundant fountains and rivers, of which there may still be observed sacred memorials in places where fountains once existed; and this proves the truth of what I am saying. (paragraph 9)"''

The map below is of the Aegean Sea, Greece and Turkey as they are presently. You can see how shallow the Aegean Sea area is and how the map from 12,000 years previously was flooded as described in Plato's Critias by the Egyptian Priest. The processes are now well known as melt-water pulses.



"As for those genealogies of yours which you just now recounted to us, Solon, they are no better than the tales of children. In the first place you remember a single deluge only, but there were many previous ones; in the next place, you do not know that there formerly dwelt in your land the fairest and noblest race of men which ever lived, and that you and your whole city are descended from a small seed or remnant of them which survived. And this was unknown to you, because, for many generations, the survivors of that destruction died, leaving no written word. For there was a time, Solon, before the great deluge of all, when the city which now is Athens was first in war and in every way the best governed of all cities, is said to have performed the noblest deeds and to have had the fairest constitution of any of which tradition tells, under the face of heaven."

Thus, the truth as told by the Egyptian Priest so long ago has now been proven.

A TRIPLE JUNCTION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN, THE NUBIAN OR AFRICAN AND THE EUROPEAN CONTINENTAL PLATES AND SUPERVOLCANOES
There are 9 types of so-called "triple tectonic plate" intersections. The intersection in the Azores is known as an "RRT" or an "RRF" junction. These kinds of junctions are unstable and only exist for a very short period of geologic time changing into two "RTT" or "RFF" junctions. The Azores Plateau transitioned from a Trench-Trench-Ridge to a Trench-Trench-Trench destabilizing the Caldera below it and causing the Azores Plateau to sink into it. This is what caused the super volcanic eruption underwater that started the Atlantis tragedy. At or around the time that Atlantis disappeared, the MAR and associated structures were pressurized from beneath by the glaciation of the various parts of the globe, but especially the Atlantic Basin. When the huge 'plug' that is the Azores plateau became free floating on the magma in the caldera under it, it started to submerge in various segments. The submergence not only released magma in the form of pumice, but it also released greenhouse gasses all under tremendous pressure, but also under water. By the time the triple junction of the tectonic plates stabilized into a "RFF" configuration, the plateau had subsided enough to change the course of the gulf stream allowing it to bathe the lands of the glaciers with warmer water that eventually melted much of the glacier cover. This, in turn, depressurized the MAR and associated structures, ensuring that they would eventually recede to their present-day levels. (MORE references to be added later)

Although science says that supervolcanic eruptions are rare they also recognize that 80% of all volcanic eruptions occur on the floor of the oceans of the Earth where they go unnoticed. Two mantle plumes could exist in the Azores archipelago area and that lithosphere is melting and combining with the updwelling magma from a single mantle plume. .

A LARGE GEOLOGICALLY ANCIENT CALDERA EXISTED BELOW THE AZORES PLATEAU AND ERUPTED
The volcanoes of Sao Miguel are described as six volcanic zones. The map of the island reveals that three main areas of volcanic activity exist, one on each end of the island and one in the middle. It is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places in the world. But the beauty of this place is underscored by the Azores Plateau upon which it resides, that covers an area of 400,000 sq.Km. Under the Azores Plateau lies a super volcanic system with a huge caldera fed by at least one and possibly two mantle plumes.

The three stratovolcanoes on Sao Miguel (the island is named after an arch-angel) are Sete Cidades, Agua de Pau and Furnas. Cutting to the chase, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1900, Geology of Three Late Quaternary Stratovolcanoes on Sao Miguel, Azores by Richard B. Moore states that Furnas was formed entirely within the last 100,000 years. This is stated in the Abstract and Furnas' caldera is only 12,000 years old. Elsewhere in this site Pico was formed at approximately the same time in a VEI 5 eruption. Pico, the highest peak in the Atlantic is a volcano characterized by flank eruptions, such as the one at Mt. St. Helens in the U.S. in 1980 Monaco Bank is an unexplored European Volcano mentioned on a web site called Volcano Cafe. Through research publications the size of the caldera that existed underneath the Azores before the eruption begins to be revealed. As the shape, depth and extent of the Mantle Plume fed caldera becomes evident from the number and the size of the volcanoes it supplied, we also see that the flow of magma is contributed to by continental drift. Apparently, the mixing of the two magma sources, one from the plume and the other from continental plate interactions, analysis of the isotopes of helium from each source reveals the source of the magma, i.e. mantle plume or continental plate interaction.

https://volcanocafe.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/monaco-bank-an-unstudied-european-volcano/

Both Fogo and Pico, volcanoes on two separate islands in the Azores, erupted simultaneously 12,000 years ago in the supereruption. Pico was formed then and Fogo had its present caldera formed then. That is not all. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1900, Geology of Three Late Quaternary Stratovolcanoes on Sao Miguel, Azores by Richard B. Moore states on page 20 that Syenite Xenoliths as large as 0.5 meters in diameter are found in the alluvial deposits of all of the volcanoes on Sao Miguel. Since the caldera of Furnas is only 12,000 years old, Syenite Xenoliths found in this caldera must be from somewhere else. Most likely, they are from the caldera under the Azores Plateau that is fed by Mantle Plumes.

Syenite Xenoliths are always partially composed of older, crystalline igneous rock. These rocks have formed in the crevasses of a caldera and are the products of a mantle plume. Since Xenoliths were found in the 12,000 year old outflow from Furnas, this indicates a volcanic supereruption must have occurred at that time, 12,000 years ago from the supervolcano under the Azores Plateau. Furthermore, since Pico erupted with a VEI of 5, but it was not the only volcano erupting at that time, Furnas also erupted.

The eruptions occurred underwater, not only because Plato described pumice floating beyond the Pillars of Hercules for some time after the eruption leaving the waters unnavigable, the glaciers to melt over northern hemisphere, the ocean levels world wide to rise, dry land to be inundated, coastline settlements to submerge all over the world and the most recent ice age to end.

THE PRESSURES CREATED BY THE GLACIER OVERBURDEN ON THE EARTH'S LITHOSPHERE OVER DRY LAND
The following contribution was added to the talk page quite some time ago on the original Atlantis Hypothesis site. It discusses the glaciation particulars of the North Atlantic, North America and Northern Europe during the last period of glaciation prior to 10 - 12 thousand years ago. This is the epoch when Atlantis is being postulated to have existed in the mid-Atlantic by Plato's writings.

Thanks, Entrepic, for your contribution.


 * 1) The weight of the glaciers on the continents. Consider the glacial mass of a 2-4 km cap of ice on top of Canada, the Great Lakes and New England regions of the US, Northern Europe, Northern Russia, and Northwest Siberia. This is equivalent to an ocean on top of the northern continents. Additional glacial weight would have been exerted on the southern Andes, and on mountains throughout the world. Here are a couple maps of the northern hemisphere during the Last Glacial Maximum circa 22,000 YA, and the relevant Wikipedia page:
 * 2) * http://www.qpg.geog.cam.ac.uk/images/WorldLGMm.jpg
 * 3) * http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/images/iceage01.jpg
 * 4) * Last Glacial Maximum
 * 5) Please note the glaciation was focused on the North Atlantic / North Sea region. This indicates that something was disrupting the Gulf Stream. Here's a couple maps of the stream-flow, and the relevant Wikipedia page:
 * 6) * http://dma.aq.upm.es/profesor/galan_p/investigacion/oceanos/imagenes/currents_north_atlantic.jpg
 * 7) * https://web.archive.org/web/20140827082307/http://marine.coastal.edu/gulfstream/path.jpg
 * 8) * Gulf Stream
 * 9) Commons:File:Golfstream.jpg

This map from Wikipedia clearly illustrates the relationship between the Azores Plateau and the Gulf stream. Please note that if the Azores Plateau were above the surface of the North Atlantic that it would obstruct the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream would then not reach the shoreline of Western Europe as it does today. That would affect the climate and it would be much colder in that area of the world.