Cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis

The cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis is the conjecture that the axis of rotation of a planet has undergone relatively rapid shifts in location, creating calamities such as massive floods and large scale tectonic events.This type of event would occur if the physical poles had been or would be suddenly shifted with respect to the underlying surface over a geologically short time frame.

Among the scientific community, the evidence shows that no rapid shifts in the pole have occurred during the last 200 million years. True polar wander is known to occur, but only at rates of 1° per million years or less. The last rapid shift in the poles may have occurred 800 million years ago, when the supercontinent Rodinia still existed. This hypothesis is almost always discussed in the context of Earth, but other bodies in the Solar System may have experienced axial reorientation during their existences.

A pole shift is sometimes confused with a pole reversal, in which the magnetic poles switch places, so that north becomes south and vice-versa. From studying the magnetism of ancient rocks, scientists have learned that pole reversals have occurred at irregular intervals throughout the Earth's history, on average about once every 300,000 years. The last was about 780,000 years ago. According to University of California professor Gary Glatzmaier, who has modeled the phenomenon with a supercomputer, pole reversals are the result of the movement of molten iron in the Earth's outer core, which can cause twists in the planet's magnetic field. Pole reversals take place over thousands of years, during which time magnetic poles can show up in strange places — the magnetic north pole, for example, might suddenly show up on the island of Tahiti in the Pacific. Recently, some have pointed to magnetic field disturbances an area known as the South Atlantic Anomaly as a possible sign of an upcoming pole reversal — which conceivably could even occur in 2012, to the likely delight of apocalyptic believers — though scientists warn that it is not likely. If a pole reversal did happen, according to Stanford University geophysicist Norm Sleep, it might cause some strange phenomena. Auroras would be visible at the equator instead of the poles, compasses would cease to be reliable, and radio transmissions would be adversely effected. Cosmic rays might pierce the Earth's atmosphere more easily. Overall, though, life would still go on.

A physical pole shift, in contrast, would be triggered by uneven weight distribution in the Earth's interior or somewhere upon its surface, such as the formation of a giant volcano far from the equator. In theory, the force of the Earth's rotation would pull the heavy object away from the axis around which the planet spins. If that weight became sufficiently imbalanced, the Earth would tilt and rotate itself until the weight was redistributed near the equator. In the process, entire continents might shift from the tropics to the Arctic, at a rate far faster than the continents normally drift due to plate tectonics.

The potentially catastrophic effects of a planetary weight imbalance was contemplated as far back as 1842 by French mathematician Joseph Adhémar, who believed that erosion of the polar ice cap could cause the ice to suddenly collapse into the ocean, shifting the Earth's center of gravity and causing a massive tsunami that would wreak widespread carnage. In the 1870s, scientists developed the theory that periodic pole shifts due to the rise of new continents were the cause of ice ages. Astronomer and mathematician George Darwin — whose father, Charles, developed the evolutionary theory of natural selection — ultimately disproved that explanation by calculating that a land mass one-quarter the size of the Northern Hemisphere would have to rise 10,000 feet out of the sea — the height of the Tibetan plateau, the highest spot on Earth — just to move the pole by one-and-half degrees.