Near the close of this second great era of the earth’s continental history, crustal convulsions, which were perhaps the most remarkable in the entire record, resulted in the almost complete disappearance of the southern continent and a concentration of the land within the northern hemisphere as a somewhat interrupted belt surrounding a central polar ocean ([Figs. 3] and [5]).
Upon the assumption of twin tetrahedrons in the intermediate era of continental evolution, both the Ocean of Tethys of that time and its present remnants, the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas, are accounted for. The V-shaped continent extensions and the A-shaped oceans of the southern hemisphere ([Fig. 2]) may likewise be considered as relics of the now largely submerged tetrahedron of the southern hemisphere, since this had its apex to the northward ([Fig. 6]).
Fig. 6.—Diagrams for comparison of shore lines upon tetrahedrons which have an angle, the first at the south and the second at the north.
Thus we see that the lithosphere can scarcely be regarded as a perfect spheroid, since in the course of geologic ages it has undergone successive departures from this original form. In its present state it has been described as tetrahedral, though we must keep in mind that the sharp angles of that figure are deeply truncated. The soundings first by Nansen and more recently by Peary in the Arctic basin, far to the north of the continental border, showed that this depression is characterized by profound depths, and so have afforded confirmation of the tetrahedral figure. To match this depression at the northern extremity of the earth’s axis, a high continent reaching to elevations in excess of 10,000 feet has been penetrated by Sir Ernest Shackleton at the opposite extremity of this polar diameter. Considering its size and its elevation, the Antarctic continent with its glacier mantle is the largest protuberance upon the surface of the lithosphere.
In our study of the departures of the earth from the standard spheroidal surface, we might even go a step farther and show how the tetrahedron, which best represents the symmetry of the present figure, is somewhat deformed by a flattening perpendicular to the Pacific Ocean. To draw attention to this flattening of the earth, it has sometimes been described as “potato-shaped”, since the outline perpendicular to this face is imperfectly heart-shaped or like a flattened “peg top.”
Fig. 7.—The continents with submerged portions added (after Gilbert).
The flooded portions of the present continents.—We are accustomed to think of the continents as ending at the shores of the oceans. If, however, we are to regard them as platforms which rise from the ocean depressions, their margins should be considerably extended, for a submerged shelf now practically surrounds all the continents to a nearly uniform depth of 100 fathoms or 600 feet. The oceans thus more than fill their basins and may be thought of as spilling over upon the continents. In [Fig. 7], the submerged portions of the continents have been joined to those usually represented, thus adding about 10,000,000 square miles to their area, and giving them one third, instead of one fourth, of the lithosphere surface.
