 |
|
|
Google Earth may be capable of finding a lot of things, but Atlantis in not one of them, at least not this time. Historians and artifact lovers raised an eyebrow recently when it has been reported that a portion of the sea floor off the coast of Africa allegedly holding the remains of the legendary Atlantis had been spotted by Google Earth.
Plato described Atlantis in his writings as an island situated near the Pillars of Heracles (Hercules), off the Northern African coast. The island, he said, sank into the Atlantic Ocean in one day and one night, after being struck by massive earthquakes.
The satellite imagery suggests that approximately 600 miles of the African coast, a grid of streets possibly belonging to Atlantis have finally emerged, telling the story of a long-lost island. But it’s not like that, Google said.
Google Earth may have been used to find the remains of an Ancient Roman villa in Mozambique, however, Atlantis is yet to be found.
In this case, what users are seeing is an artifact of the data collection process. Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor. The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data. The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world’s oceans.
However, despite not discovering Atlantis, Google Earth has definitely become one of the instruments most likely to locate lost treasures, such as ancient sites, and even hidden ones, such as
marijuana fields.
Image Credit: Google Earth
© 2007 - 2009 - eFluxMedia
