Cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis
The cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis is a pseudo-scientific claim that there have been recent, geologically rapid shifts in the axis of rotation of Earth, causing calamities such as floods and tectonic events[1] or relatively rapid climate changes.
"Polar Shift" redirects here. For the book, see Polar Shift (novel). For the music compilation, see Polar Shift (album).There is evidence of precession and changes in axial tilt, but this change is on much longer time-scales and does not involve relative motion of the spin axis with respect to the planet. However, in what is known as true polar wander, the Earth rotates with respect to a fixed spin axis. Research shows that during the last 200 million years a total true polar wander of some 30° has occurred, but that no rapid shifts in Earth's geographic axial pole were found during this period.[2] A characteristic rate of true polar wander is 1° or less per million years.[3] Between approximately 790 and 810 million years ago, when the supercontinent Rodinia existed, two geologically rapid phases of true polar wander may have occurred. In each of these, the magnetic poles of Earth shifted by approximately 55° due to a large shift in the crust.[4]
Definition and clarification[edit]
The geographic poles are defined by the points on the surface of Earth that are intersected by the axis of rotation. The pole shift hypothesis describes a change in location of these poles with respect to the underlying surface – a phenomenon distinct from the changes in axial orientation with respect to the plane of the ecliptic that are caused by precession and nutation, and is an amplified event of a true polar wander. Geologically, a surface shift separate from a planetary shift, enabled by earth's molten core.
Pole shift hypotheses are not connected with plate tectonics, the well-accepted geological theory that Earth's surface consists of solid plates which shift over a viscous, or semifluid asthenosphere; nor with continental drift, the corollary to plate tectonics which maintains that locations of the continents have moved slowly over the surface of Earth,[5] resulting in the gradual emerging and breakup of continents and oceans over hundreds of millions of years.[6]
Pole shift hypotheses are not the same as geomagnetic reversal, the occasional reversal of Earth's magnetic field (effectively switching the north and south magnetic poles).