Midwest quake and ‘crustal pole shift’ theories provide perspective

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Saturday, April 19, 2008
Midwest quake and ‘crustal pole shift’ theories provide perspective

(This article also appears on AmericanChronicle.com.)

By Steve Hammons

Surprising earthquake activity can make us wonder if greater instability of the Earth’s crust will manifest itself in the coming months and years.

Some people even consider the idea of a huge and global “crustal pole shift” to be possible, both past and future.

The magnitude 5.2 earthquake that shook the much of the Midwest early Friday morning reminds us that the west coast and other seismic hot spots around the world are not the only regions vulnerable to significant or severe quake activity.

For those who have researched theories of historical and possibly future large “crustal shifts” or crustal “pole shifts,” each quake triggers a renewed contemplation of the possible validity of some crustal shift theories.

As has been widely reported, the area around the New Madrid fault zone in Missouri, Illinois and surrounding states has been shaken several times in recent decades.

The most severe quake in recorded history in the New Madrid region was the shaker in 1811 and 1812 which has been estimated to have been a 7.4 to 8.0 event.

But what is the bigger picture when we examine the entire crust of the planet?

CRUSTAL POLE SHIFT

We know the outer crust sits on an inner layer of molten, somewhat liquid-like material. We also know the continents have shifted over the history of Earth. The conventional theories are that this took millions of years.

However, other researchers hypothesize that occasional sudden shifts of the planet’s crust have happened every several thousand years, and that we might be due for another one in our lifetimes.

In this scenario, which some people suspect might be recorded in ancient human legends and accounts, virtually the entire crust of the Earth suddenly slips or rotates significantly around the inner core.

This, of course, would cause massive and devastatingly severe earthquakes, volcanic activity and tsunamis.

But why would the Earth’s crust suddenly move like this?

At least two main theories have been proposed.

One is that as the Earth rotates around the sun year after year and century after century, it is known that the planet slightly tips on its axis, which we recognize at the North and South Poles.

As this tipping increases over so many thousands of years, the momentum of the tipping reaches a point where the crust slips and moves tremendously, establishing new pole positions.

Another view is that the position of other dynamics affecting our solar system may create a gravitational influence on Earth that pulls at the planet’s crust in a way that causes such a shift.

There are related views that a possible “dark star” or “dwarf sun” sometimes referred to as “Planet X” has an elliptical orbit different from the other planets in our solar system but comes close to us every so many thousands of years.

When it does, it creates gravitational disruptions that could affect our planet in ways that trigger crustal shifts and other problematic developments on Earth.

CHANGING EARTH

Some researchers claim that such a crustal pole shift has occurred in recorded human history.

Why? Ancient maps show the coastline and some geographical and topographical features of the continent of Antarctica, apparently from a time when it was not covered with ice.

However, until ice-penetrating radar was used by the U.S. military in Antarctica flyovers in the early 1960s, many of the details of the coastline and the continent were unknown.

The data and geographical descriptions resulting from these modern surveys reportedly matched the ancient maps, according to some researchers.

This led some people to consider the possibility that in ancient times, Antarctica may not have been at the South Pole. It might have been located in more temperate latitudes and was a continent that was green and had a warmer climate.

According to these types of theories, old poles of the Earth’s crust moved and the ice rapidly thawed, causing massive global floods. New poles were quickly frozen over and animal and plant life there was rapidly frozen too.

The idea that this could happen again in our future, even our near future, is something that may be interesting, or frightening, to think about.

Certainly the stories of a Planet X dark star or dwarf sun heading our way are part of the rumors and theories about a problematic development for Earth around the year 2012. These views often include consideration of massive earthquakes and partial or more widespread crustal pole shift events.

Friday’s earthquake reminds us that we are small beings on this planet and our construction of buildings, bridges and the rest of our modern infrastructure is really quite fragile in the face of large-scale natural events.

Will humankind face some catastrophe like a huge crustal shift or the intrusion of a Planet X in our lifetimes? We know that anything could be possible, but the probability of these kinds of developments is unclear.

As always, we can hope for the best and prepare for the worst.