Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

rydan t1_j2qya19 wrote

So that thing conspiracy theorists claimed would happen all in one day back in 2000 actually did happen but took hundreds of millions of years?

28

GeoGeoGeoGeo OP t1_j2stutj wrote

I'm not sure what you're referencing, but the O-S TPW event spanned 10 million years, not hundreds of millions of years. See Fig. 3: Ordovician–Silurian apparent polar wander paths globally. (C)

4

rydan t1_j2tcwu0 wrote

I was basing that on someone else's comment that said it takes 100 million years to shift 61 degrees.

The conspiracy theory back then was that the Earth was too heavy at the south pole and a planetary alignment was going to basically shift all the continents on the planet causing a major catastrophe. Scientists of course refused to comment so as to not panic the public of our impending doom.

1

GeoGeoGeoGeo OP t1_j2tjpsh wrote

That was actually my comment above explaining the differences between ATP and TPW and the theoretical speed limits to TPW (not that actual reported rate in the study, which was 40–50° over 10 million years or upwards of 55.5 cm/yr).

Interesting. As is the case with most conspiracy theories perhaps one or more of the individual components are correct on their own, but the details, mechanisms, and relationships between their interactions are woefully lacking in understanding.

1