SURVEY
OF ATLANTIS
A brief
compilation of evidence to encourage further scientific research
and analysis of the issues by specialists to prove or disprove
the O'Brien thesis of the recent existence of a large Mid-Atlantic
Ridge island centred on the Azores.
A
Reconstruction of the Main Island of Plato's Atlantis - Christian
O'Brien - 18th February 1985 - Widdington - Essex - England
For
a larger version the O'Brien survey click here
Atlantis
3D Visualisation - Sea Floor Subsidence - click here - Giving
support for the O'Brien Survey - added to site on 21st January
2007
INTRODUCTION
Christian
O'Brien in Chapter 18 of The Shining Ones features the
basic historical and geological evidence which identifies the
Azores as the site of the Island of Atlantis. In an outstanding
career as exploration geologist he is no stranger to successfully
challenging established perceptions and raises the key issue
of the deep crustal rifting associated with such flood basalt
constructions.
He produced
the survey of the Island in 1985, utilizing Portuguese Admiralty
Charts, now superseded by the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences
map also shown below, and further recent
detailed hydrographic input, 20% of which has been utilized
within the 3D Visualisation. Further information is sought to
allow for the siting and collection of new sediment cores in
un-disturbed areas.
The technology
needed to prove or disprove the Atlantis issue is now available.
Science has reached the point of being able to understand both
the creation of' such large structures and the subsequent catastrophic
movements in the earths crust, which have destroyed them. Finding
and dating the remains of fresh water life at depths of up to
4000 metres, finding coral, sandy beaches and volcanic material
below sea level and identifying former river valleys is within
reach and we look forward to providing further news on this
subject later in the year.
So far this
century there has been a confirmed report of a one mile rise
in the floor of the ocean 576 miles north of Azores when a trans-atlantic
cable broke. Dr David F. Zhirov in 1970 reported sand beaches
and coral at a depths of 2 miles south of the Azores. Confirmed
evidence exists that sections of the Mid-Atlantic ridge have
been above sea level in the past and fresh water diatoms have
been found 2 miles down in the Azores area dated 10,000 to 12,000
BC.
Volcanic
material described as un-dissolved tachylite was found on Telegraph
Bank 500 miles north of Azores, indicating that it had been
laid down above sea level at some time between 50,000 BC and
10,000 BC. Sediment core analysis at locations off the coast
of Africa have proved a 2 mile sinkage of volcanic island structures
similar to those of the Azores.
The more
detailed evidence provided by the latest underwater surveys
will assist in identify the former glacial sea level, and locating
the river canyons of' a large island where rivers joined the
sea before sea levels rose, thus matching the river canyon features
of the American, European and African continental shelves.
Open minds
are required to concentrate current resources on the many disciplines
required to re-create or resolve this mystery which has immense
importance to our understanding of human origins and human diffusion.
In particular, migrations from Africa to the America's from
60,000 BC.
Important
knowledge has been gathered at other sites on flood basalt formations,
collapsed volcanic cones, plate tectonics, deep crustal rifting
together with the rebound by up to 1km of the thick and old
earths crust freed from the weight of glacial ice and the compensatory
sinkage of perhaps up to 4km In the fragile young and thin oceananic
crustal areas adjacent to major active fault zones.
The Institute
of Oceanographic Sciences map, contoured in metres, shows the
islands of the Azores as the volcanic peaks of the worlds greatest
Mountain range. The area is bounded on the west by the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge rift valley fault, to the north by the Kurchatov Fracture
Zone, on the east by deep ocean, and on the whole southern flank
by the massive and deep East Azores Fracture Zone. Here we can
see the three major tectonic plates which converge in this fragile
crustal area, making it perhaps the most unstable structure
on the planet.
There is
no doubt that world sea levels have risen on average some 400
feet since the maximum influence of the Ice Age, although the
identification of shore lines at this date around 16,500 BC
must be considered in the light of much greater compensatory
movements in the earths crust and other factors. Certainly a
large island at this latitude would have been a suitable glacial
refuge for plants, animals and man, during a highly inhospitable,
cold and extremely dry climatic phase with so much of the earths
moisture locked tip within Ice sheets.
Sea level
rises may have been relatively stable in the area of Atlantis
until two accelerated sea rises, due to massive melt water discharges,
from land/ice locked lakes around 12,000 BC (50-40cm per annum)
and 9,300 BC (30-20 mm per annum). A third and final accelerated
rise took occured between 6,000 and 5,500 BC as result of further
melt water discharges. The process of' sea level rise took place
as the earth warmed to the highest levels recorded for over
120,000 years, peaking before 2350 BC by some 3°C higher
than current levels.
The observational
evidence of the geological structure of the Azores Islands,
above and below current sea level, does provide evidence of
river systems, which must have been created by a much larger
land area. However not enough convincing evidence exists because
of substantial past volcanic activity, subsidence and land slippage
within the area. This creates problems in searching both for
ancient remains or biological evidence that may still exist.
Catastrophic
flooding, collapse and sinking at around 9,500 BC has been suggested
by many historical sources and it has now become a simple matter
for science to prove or disprove the thesis. Confirmation and
dating of a very large sunken island requires access to and
analysis of just a few sediment cores and a search for underwater
structures in key locations. These may exist from just below
the surface of the sea down to a depth of 11,000 feet.
It is important
to realise that the O'Brien survey and the small adjustment
for tilt re-creates the island as clearly described by Plato
and many other independent and unconnected sources. The major
building structures, if they still exist, will lie to the south
west of the great plain in an area covered by the greatest depth
of.' water close to the catastrophic crustal rifting of the
East Azores Fault Zone, which can be clearly seen on the Institute
of Oceanographic Sciences map.
We have
featured more than 30 important books on our recommended reading
list, which in total have produced a weight of evidence to support
the basic thesis presented by O'Brien, spanning from the common
records of the earliest antiquity to serious modern research.
Only now are we beginning to appreciate the stature and reliability
of the records presented by Solon and Plato, and accept recent
Scientific explanations for related dramatic crustal rifting
movements and vertical movements of the earths crust.
On a world
wide scale there is common story of a great flood preceded by
exceptional rainfall and accompanied by earth quakes and volcanic
eruptions. It may be of significance to state that tsunami tidal
waves were not directly mentioned in connection with this great
flood story and that modern science has identified and dated
three distinct rapid rises and three small declines in sea level
since the ice age as the worlds climate warmed. The first great
flood may have held more significance to early man and Atlantis,
than the many subsequent floods and other natural disasters.
The latter include interruptions to the circulatory flow of
the Gulf Stream through fresh water input/ice melt, and episodic
cometary debris impacts.
We welcome
further input into this project from all interested parties.
The more detailed hydrographic information, which we hope to
obtain from the Portuguese authorities and the Southampton University
Oceanographic Department, will allow a few small steps to be
made to either dismiss the existence of Atlantis at this site
or confirm the detailed evidence to re-create the great legend
as fact.
