Why did it sink?

I was pondering the question the other day, and I think I may have come up with a possible answer.

During the last big Ice Age, Europe was covered with glaciers. Glaciers that in addition to being cold, were also very heavy. So heavy , in fact, that they might have had the effect of compressing the crust of the Earth in such a way that it forced up the crust around it. Like pushing on the surface of a balloon. Where you push, it goes down, but elsewhere it (at least relatively) rises.

So as the glaciers melted, not only did the seas rise, which would have been bad enough, but the weight was also lifted off Europe. Then, just like it would happen on a teeter-totter (see-saw), as Europe rose, the land on the opposite side of the tectonic plate would fall.

What might be interesting if the Gulf Stream current shuts down and glaciers return to Europe, is to see if Eastern Atlantis will rise again. Of course it may take a few thousand years. Or it might not take that long, at all.

Well done What you describe is exactly what did happen durng the ice age and its aftermath!

The ice sheets push down on the Earth's surface, depressing it and causing the surrounding area to raise up in a 'forebulge' exactly as you describe. Once the ice sheet melted the reverse happen - which is why, for example, today Scotland is continuing to slowly rise whilst Southern England is sinking down.

The process is known as Glacial Isostasy

It has been theorised because of this that part of the Mid Atlantic ridge could have been raised above sea level.

However, there is no direct evidence that this happened, and in any case the raised land would have been a mix of volcanic rock and sea floor mud, totally devoid of life.

No, there's no direct evidence of it happening. As for whether or not life might have found a foothold, I think that could be up for debate. Volcanic soil is a good place for plants to sprout. I don't know about sea floor mud. I can imagine it being rather nutrient-rich, what with all the little dead things in it.

A lot would depend on when the bulge would have first pushed Atlantis to the surface. The last European glaciation ended about 10,000 years ago, which puts the concurrent rise in the crust at just about the 12,000 year figure for the destruction. So the timing is about right.

The last general glaciation (including the Devensian glaciation) began, however, approximately 70,000 years ago. More than enough time for a raised part of the Mid-Atlantic ridge to have grown a nice little ecosystem.

Taking a quick look at the bathymetric data...



... depending on how much coastline it ended up with, it looks like Atlantis could have been a relatively nice place. If the Gulf Stream was chugging away, looks like it would have warmed up some nice northern plains, good for crops like wheat. The mountain areas in the middle would catch a lot of rain and filter it down as fresh water into the Central and Eastern Plains, where it looks like there would be lots of large fresh water lakes. There might also be some microclimates in the mountain areas, warmed by volcanic hot springs. Might even get some tropical fruit and stuff there.

The really bad thing, though -- and this might be how they lost the capitol city -- is that the south-central plain may have been pretty close to sea level, with only a small ridge keeping the water out to the south. A combination of rapid sea level rise with a corresponding drop in the southern sea wall would have flooded the entire south-central plain. Which is where I imagine they might have put the capitol. Along the banks of the large river coming off the mountains, good for river travel. Also close enough to the sea to be a good port to sail out to Africa and points East, swinging down into South America, and up again, maybe even along the coast of North America.

Anyway, like you said. No evidence of it. And after sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic for 12,000 years, there might not be much left of anything anyone might have built. Unless they used really huge rocks.

Still, like I said. Could have been a very nice place.

[edit on 28-2-2006 by Enkidu]

The vile priestes grew hungry for power, and that is what finally leading to the sinking of it, kinda of what is happening today.

I'm sure that would be what was taught later. People are always looking for a good allegory to hang their hats on. I tend to think that a big crustal shift caused by global climate change is a more likely explanation than the wrath of the gods. Or God. Or karma. Or whatever.

It was actuallly closer to the Atlanteans being so great and powerful due to their strategic location (In the middle of the ocean, they were in the middle of most trade routes, meaning they had lot's of sailors looking for much-needed supplies landing on their shores. Hello, Money.), that they thought they were greater than the Gods, who got mad and unleashed their Wrath in the form of a Giant Tidal Wave, which wiped out the Atlanteans (or Amenes, t5o some.), and sunk their island. Or, it could have been an underwater earthquake, causing a freak tidal wave and sinking the island.

It was actuallly closer to the Atlanteans being so great and powerful due to their strategic location (In the middle of the ocean, they were in the middle of most trade routes, meaning they had lot's of sailors looking for much-needed supplies landing on their shores. Hello, Money.), that they thought they were greater than the Gods, who got mad and unleashed their Wrath in the form of a Giant Tidal Wave, which wiped out the Atlanteans (or Amenes, t5o some.), and sunk their island. Or, it could have been an underwater earthquake, causing a freak tidal wave and sinking the island.

THe seas were alot lot lot lower than they are today i forget where i found the sea levels but the coast lines were much different

No matter how big and heavy the glaciers were, water is still heavier than ice, so i doubt that that could happen. Also, if that did happen, wouldn't all the water that rose above Atlantis come back down when the glaciers melted?

well no becuase the galliers are just adding more water to the sea. i would like to think civil war had some thing to do with it. maybe in a strugel one side actived their most destructive power. they only reason i could see them doing that would be a last resort. if they can't have it no one will. that also might help explain the lack of ruins. with their hight tech weaponry i'm sure they a majority of buildings were completely destoryed then while under water the rest euroded away. that is a rather dark thoery on why it sank i must say.

The weight doesn't matter so much as the placement. If you can imagine a large lever, or teeter-totter, big enough so that Atlantis is on one end and Europe is on the other, when the ice melts, the weight is released from the Europe side. Europe rises and Atlantis has no where to go but down below the water level, even though the melting glaciers would lower that water level worldwide.

It's just an idea. And to work it would become necessary to figure out what kind of mechanism inside the Earth would somehow essentially act as a "fulcrum" between the two places. And there's no evidence of that, as far as I know.

The coast lines were about 110 feet lower than they are today.

The problem with that idea is that if this was true, then all of the South side of the plates would have risen, not just only the place where Atlantis is supposed to have existed.

That would mean that all the South Mediterranean sea would be out of the water.

And the Eurasian plate reaches only to the Açores, South of the Açores is the African plate, and this one would did not had so much weight from the ice on top of it because there is not enough land to the South to reach the regions that would have become completely covered with ice.

Also, West of the Açores is the North American plate, and this plate is today half under the ice (it reaches to North Pole and has all the North of Canada and Greenland) but that does not make its South border, in the Caribbean sea, rise when compared with the other plates that do not have ice on top of them, like the Caribbean plate and the Cocos plate.

You can see all these plates lates_tect2_en.svg" target="_blank" class="postlink">here.

Enkidu

Is that bathymetric data from the Açores region? That is one of the most popular locations for Atlantis, at least for the Portuguese.

If you look at that picture i think it is atlantis.

And before atlantis excisted plato even drew when on the map america before it excisted.

It is right there in the middle of the Atlantic ocean just as in the name Atlantis.

It looks if you took a little water off youll get a continent.

THe ice caps and global warming for thousands of years ago made more water flow out of the ice caps.

Coausing sea floor to level up.

Atantis sunk.


I think you might have found atlantis. I seroiusly do.

If you look at the sea floor map on the atlantic ocean it is fractured.

no one would talk about it if it never excisted.

All of the Earth's surface is fractured, but the images from the ocean floor are made from sonar or radar data, so the type of result is different from what we usually see. If you look at a radar image of the surface of the Earth (like this picture of Washington) you would see that it looks very different from a normal satellite photo.

Mickey Mouse does not exist and many people talk about him, probably more people than those who talk about Atlantis.

What a load of bull. My little girl just got Mickey's autograph last month in Orlando. Proof positive buddy.

So there!

Harte

Why did Atlantis sink? Surely only the Atlantians can answer that question.

it sunk because someone asked the ruler of atlantis (we'll call him humpty dumpty):

1) what is the highest number?
2) what is the lowest negative number?
3) what is the definition of "phi"?
4) can you calculate what the "golden section" is?
5) can you provide us with a syllabus for love?

if a part of your mind fears the unknown, and a part of your mind will always remain true to you, then .. .. .. . .

if you asked god what the highest number is, when you know they never end, when would you expect the god of atlantis to return?