The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
Under these circumstances, says Mr. Geikie, the “much wider
extent of sea being exposed to the blaze of the tropical sun, the
temperature of the ocean in equatorial regions would rise above
what it is at present. This warm water, sweeping in broad
currents, would enter the polar fiords and seas, and everywhere,
beating the air, would cause warm, moist winds to blow athwart
the land to a much greater extent than they do at present; and
these winds thus distributing warmth and moisture, might render
even the high latitude of North Greenland habitable by civilized
man.” So we see that it is necessary to look for such
geographical changes as will interfere with the movements of
marine currents.
Now, it is easy to see that comparatively small geographical
changes would not only greatly interfere with these currents, but
might even cause them to entirely change their course. An
elevation of the northern part of North America, no greater in
amount than is supposed to have taken place at the commencement
of the Glacial Age, would bring the wide area of the banks of
Newfoundland far above the water, causing the American coast to
stretch out in an immense curve to a point more than six hundred
miles east of Halifax, and this would divert much of the Gulf
Stream straight across to the coast of Spain.23
Such an elevation certainly took place, and if continued
westward, Behring’s Strait would also have been closed. It is to
such northern elevations, shutting out the warm ocean currents,
that a great many geologists look for a sufficient explanation of
the glacial cold.
Prof. Dana says: “Increase in the extent and height of high
latitude lands may well stand as one cause of the Glacial Age.”
Then he points out how the rising of the land of Northern Canada
and adjacent territory, which almost certainly took place, “all a
sequel to the majestic uplift of the Tertiary, would have made a
glacial period for North America, whatever the position of the
ecliptic, or whatever the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit,
though more readily, of course, if other circumstances favored
it.”24
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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