(New
Scientist, 8.7.06, p. 19 and 18.2.06, pp. 42-45)
Although
geologists do not appear to be able to even think about pole
tilts in respect of sudden climate changes and ice ages, they
are prepared to accept that the Earth's axis can be made to
tilt simply by high-pressure weather systems over a continent
or a depression over an ocean. Admittedly, it is only a matter
of centimeters but changes in the position of the pole of several
metres are acknowledged as occurring regularly as the result
of three different types of wobble, the Chandler wobble which
takes 14 months to complete a cycle, the annual wobble and the
Markowitz wobble, which takes 24 years. The first two are thought
to be caused by weather and ocean currents. The Markowitz wobble
is still a puzzling phenomenon. It is suggested that; Something
must be dragging the planet's crust and mantle around. It
does not seem so impossible that in the past something dragged
the crust around to a much more noticeable degree.
Extract
from the Society for Interdisciplinary Studies Issue
– November 2006
