I'm a newbie and don't know much so I decided to ask here. I just finished reading the book in the title. Ignore the Atlantis part. What I was interested in is all the stuff about the poles shifting and the catastrophic effect of the Ross Ice Shelf breaking. Is there any truth behind that? If so, what could cause something like that to happen?
Warning, SPOILER!!!! I too, read this book. It wound up to be a quick read. In natural events, somehow I doubt that it would happen fast enough for the desired effects to happen. For those that have not read this book, I will give the spoiler, so that it makes sense. The scenerio is that there is a plan to re-instate the Aryan race as the only ones left on the planet. To accomplish this, a mining consorum is formed to mine the ice, under the shelf, at the polar cap. The mining is done, not by machine but by nanotech means. The idea is to slowly disengage the ice cap from its anchor points at the cap by undercutting it. Once done, in rapid succession, the cap float off its central location. The mass of the cap is to upset the balance of the earth and its spin (If I recall correctly) causing it to wobble. The wobble is to change the location of the poles and create a gigantic flood, the likes of Noah's Flood. Prepared in another location are the selected survivors, and several large cruise ship size vessels with all the necessary goods for surviving a long term flood and the later re-establishing of humanity.
I'm a Clive Cussler fan. I thoroughly enjoyed that book. The Poles have shifted many times in the past are are in fact migrating as we speak. Nobody knows for certain why. An imbalance seems plausible to me. Most of the worlds fresh water is tied up in the Ice shelves of Antarctica. I'm presently reading an account of the first human crossing unaided and its fantastic reading. Some people seem to think that modern technology has made such crossings easy. Sure, you can call for help. That doesn't save you from snow hidden crevasses or hurricane force windstorms stealing your tent while your asleep. Its hard to believe that the continent was once covered in jungles.
Sorry for the confusion. I was talking about the magnetic poles at first. Then I meandered. I should have begun a new paragraph with the imbalance statement which was pure speculation. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the continent was once covered in jungles. Maybe I'm mistaken.
The main problem with the book is that the ice they are attempting to shift is floating. It is an ice shelf. Cutting it off and setting it free will have absolutely no effect on sea levels. It will be just another big iceberg. Cussler writes a good yarn but his science is very suspect.
