HOW THE NORTH POLE WAS SHIFTED.

Northland Age, Volume 2, Issue 49, 10 July 1906, Page 8

HOW THE NORTH POLE WAS SHIFTED.

j We are accustomed to think of the equator and the poles as a circle ami as points on the earth's surface -that are fixed and unchangeable. Yet science has revealed that at least I once since this planet became habitl able the axis of the earth was suddenly so far displaced as to transpose tHe tropical and temperate cones. Before this great cataclysm took | place the North Pole was located _ where what is now the north-western Jr margin of Hudson Bay. Siberia was a semi-tropical country | the original home of the mammoth, t which became extinct when the polar region swept southwards to preserve the last of his species in mountains l of ice. When the new equator was established the waters of the ocean rushed thither, covering up continents and others. Fabled Atlantis and the eastern and i) hi-misphetes took their present form. IVrhaps the Noachiun deluge is thus scientifically accounted for (says the "New York Journal," w from which we quote an interesting H article on the subject by Lucius E. ij Knowles, u distinguished geologist.) H These are interesting facts deduced H from generations of 6tudy of the g marks left by the great glacier which H swept down from the north until its edges disappeared in the ocean and HBIY In the soil of what are now the New England and Middle and Western States of America. By these marks in primeval rock and by tho boulders which the glacier” strewed wherever it flowed, geologists nave traced the great ice stream to fr its source and demonstrated that F there must have been the ancient North Pole. As this region happened to be level land, far then from any ocean shore, it was possible for the polar ice cap to grow and grow until it was higher than any mountain—until its height so lengthened the earth’s axis that, according to a well-known law of physics, a shorter axis took its place its northern pole being at the edge of the ice cap. The phenomena connected with the examination of evidences of glaciatlon in the higher latitudes of the North Am- rican Continent have proved so pi ruling to scientists, and have given rise to so many diverse theories k as to its origin, cause, and effect, ■ that it would seem that any theory y which should ; in a measure, correlate these phenomena, and to a certain extent bring harmony out of the chaos of ideas, should be welcomed by all students of those evidences. The chief reliance for a knowledge of the nature and direction of those I rco movements is on the striations or * grooves cut Hi the soft limestone rock by the hard boulders of granite and “ other igneous rocks which the glaciers tore from their present ledges in higher altitudes and boro along in their lower surfaces, and which acted as a granite rasp upon the ledges of comparatively soft rocks over which they passed. These striae where they have been examined, indicate two .general facts : First, that the ice—probably on account of the conformation of tho surface—was pushed forward in several I tongues or lobes, forming as many distinct loops. Second, that the ice in these severtil loops had a composite motion—a forward motion, caused by the pressure from behind, and a lateral mojL- tion which was caused by the widening of the lobe. In the consideration of the direction of this great ice movement, we find (says Mr. Knowles) that the main axes of these several loops have a general convergence towards a point in Canada which may be named k. "The Centre of Glaciation." But to determino this point more definitely, 1 we must have recourse to t.he general trend of the terminal moraines, which may lie described as follows : Beginning at Cape Cod, in latitude f 42, longitude 70, we find it extending in a slight curve through the states of Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, lowa, Minnesota, 1 North Dakota, and being continuous with the great Missouri "Cotcau," which seems to be an extension of it into the Dominion of Canada. Considering this curve as the arc of a circle, and erecting polar co-ordinates [ on its semi-chords, we establish this centre of glaciation at a point near * the northern extremity of Hudson . Bay, in about latitude 63 and longif tude 90 W. Now, as to the cause of the movement. Either there must have been a tremendous accumulation of snow and ice in this centre, or the land of that locality must have been at an elevation above sea level far greater than that of the highest mountains now known. This second supposition, however, is hardly in the range of possibilities, since an upheaval of such an extent, at a date so recent j as the conceded period of this glacia- j tion, must have been accompanied by violent and extensive disturbances of the rock strata, of which there is not the slightest evidence. WHY THE EARTH’S AXIS CHANGED. ! What, then, caused the accumulation of a vast depth of snow and ice at the centre ? Evidently but one f thing could have caused it. This point must have been the ancient pole of the earth, and was probably so far from the open sea that only the now northeastern edge of the old ice-cap was exposed to the ocean currents. But to find a cau.se for this change of axis, and consequent removal of the j pole to its present position, we must consider a well-known law of physics "A mass of matter In revolution Aril) always jrpel* the shortest axis. Bte '. > ■

Torell, a Swedish geologist, tries to locate the centre of glaciation in Greenland, which Professor Dawson rightly says is too far east. These conclusions by these authorities seem to point so distinctly "to an ancient pole” that it seems strange that neither of them has offered that as a solution of the difficulties with which they find themselves surrounded. Two pdlnts are especially significant : First, our centre pf glaciation is very near the location of the present magnetic pole, and may it not be that the instability of that magnetic centro is caused by a slow readjustment of the metals in the earth's crust to the change of poles ? Second, a very important point in evidence, and one which verges upon absolute proof, lies In the fact of the discovery of mammoth remains in Siberia, frozen up in the ice in such a state of preservation that the flesh provides food f6r the wild Siberian dogs. The mammoths were semi-tropical animals, living on profuse vegetation and such beasts would not have forsaken their habitat for the now bleak plains of Siberia. Had they been forced south by, the slow cooling of the earth, as has been suggested, not even a bone would have been left, unless in a state of petrification. No ; they must assuredly have been overtaken by a cataclysm, and nothing can so reasonably provide such an event as our supposed change of axis. Following the circumference of a great circle from the centre of gift-" ciation to the present pole, and continuing the same line for an equal distance beyond it, we should have an ancient latitude ol about 36 degs. a latitude easily low enough to have been the habitat of this giant pachyderm, where we may readily imagine him browsing on the luxurious vegetation, when suddenly—probably in a few days or weeks—he found himself in a latitude of 63 degrees, perhaps in the middle of an Arctic winter, was frozen to death and entombed in his icy mausoleum, from which he is being now slowly exhumed to bear witness to the catastrophe which was the cause of his undoing.