One of my previous article, “What is that pole shift thing?”, got a lot of attention and it explained what a magnetic pole reversal was. Why a part II if it’s been covered before? Well, there’s a lot of misunderstanding about what a pole shift really is. There’s two important concepts about pole shift: Magnetic reversal and change in the axis of rotation of the Earth. Magnetic reversal being covered, I will explain the possible change in the Earth’s rotational axis. We’ll start with Wikipedia’s definition of a pole shift:
The pole shift theory is a hypothesis that the axis of rotation of a planet has not always been at its present-day locations or that the axis will not persist there; in other words, that its physical poles had been or will be shifted. Pole shift theory is almost always discussed in the context of Earth, but other solar system bodies may have experienced axial reorientation during their existences.
How can the poles physically change location?
To really understand the way poles can physically change location, let’s take a look at the Earth’s different layers:
As you see on this picture, our planet has mainly 3 layers: Crust, mantle and core. The core is then actually divided in two: Solid inner core and liquid outer core. The crust is the layer we live on and it’s very thin compared to other layers. If the earth was an apple, the skin would be the crust, so you can see it’s really thin compared to the rest. This crust is divided into plates called tectonic plates and they sort of float on the mantle just below. These plates usually move along smoothly but sometimes they stick and build up pressure. When there’s too much pressure, the rock bends and we get an Earthquake. So now we all understand that the crust “float” on the mantle (The mantle flows so that’s why the crust can actually “float” on it).
We’re now getting to the real deal. The reason why the poles would shift is because of mass distribution. Mass distribution explains why the Earth rotate the way it does and I like to explain it with laundry: When you put clothes in your washing machine, you try to distribute them equally with the space you have. If you put everything on one side, when the washing machine starts it will make an awful noise and probably start shaking and moving around. You have to stop it, balance what’s in it correctly and start over. The Earth act the same way and it rotate smoothly because it’s well balanced. Of course it’s a little more complicated than that but for our needs we don’t need more. If an extra weight unbalance the Earth, it would tilt and rotate itself until the extra weight moves somewhere near the equator. The poles(physical poles as in top and bottom of Earth) would still be pointing the same direction, but the continents would be shifted completely due to the moving crust. That’s why knowing about the crust is important: Because it “float” on the surface, it can move freely and such a radical change in the Earth’s rotational axis would cause it to move a lot. Such a drastic change would cause the crust to slip and you very well imagine the disasters it can cause. This theory is called “True Polar Wander”.
Why and how would this happen?
There’s evidence it happened in the past and this theory could explain a lot of things that remained mysterious. There’s a couple of theories about how it could happen next:
- Important mass building at the poles
- Continents drift
- An asteroid hitting Earth
- A large object/Planet not from the Solar system approaching Earth
- Something like a super sized volcano formed far from the equator
So as you can see once again, it’s all about a critical mass building up far from the equator. But Adam Maloof, professor in Geosciences at Princeton University has something really interesting to say:
If a true polar wander event has occurred in our planet’s history, it’s likely been when the continents formed a single mass on one side of the Earth. We don’t expect there to be another event in the foreseeable future, though. The Earth’s surface is pretty well balanced today.
So, as you can see, it’s not like the magnetic reversal which is mostly unpredictable and can happen anytime (Even though as I explained it’s not that much of a big deal). It’s a process that we can see happening. The only drastic way it could happen is with an asteroid striking Earth or a large object/planet getting near Earth. For the asteroid, NASA is monitoring near Earth objects and I’m sure they do a good job with that. For the planet approaching it’s clear people are making reference to Planet X/Nibiru. Once again, if you haven’t read my article Planet X - Why it doesn’t matter that much I encourage you to do so. This will give you some information on why it’s not really a possibility.
As I said in Part I, It happened in the past and it will happen again, we just don’t know when. I decided not to give to much historic informations on the pole shift theory as I know you can all find that fairly easily on Wikipedia and other places. In fact here’s a link to Pole Shift theories on Wikipedia. I don’t like repeating other’s website content and my goal was really to point out how the crust could move around the globe and expose the fact that it’s a mass distribution problem that cause the pole shift.
It’s a credible theory and I won’t try to kill it. In fact, Albert Einstein thought it was a credible theory. But that doesn’t mean we have to fear this! There’s no evidence pointing for that to happen any time soon. Like any other doomsday prophecy there’s a fear propaganda built around it and don’t get caught in that.
What’s the relation between this Pole Shift and 2012?
There’s no clear link between 2012 and that physical pole shift. It’s most likely linked with Planet X approaching Earth and then causing a pole shift due to the change in gravity which holds our Solar system the way it is. There’s also a possibility for an asteroid to hit Earth. TU24 just missed Earth a couple of days ago and I remember that I read about 2012 and TU24 hitting Earth. Anyway, there’s probably not much to fear about 2012.
Conclusion - Will a Pole shift put an end to our world anytime soon?
A pole shift probably won’t happen anytime soon as nothing is pointing toward that direction, but it will happen someday. I think it’s a really interesting and credible scientific possibility. I just don’t buy the option it will happen anytime soon. It’s something we can track and as Maloof said, the Earth’s surface is pretty well balanced at the moment. Of course something unpredictable can happen but we can say that everyday in life. Every time I drive my car there’s a possibility for me to die but I just don’t think about it maybe like 95% of the population. Well , there’s a slight possibility for a pole shift and a magnetic reversal everyday but life goes on.
29 Comments
Alright as I love how “eben” points it out I will add a few more things to reassure. Go to NASA.gov and type in 2012. NIBIRU is nothing, its not real. Check out these few pages, this should put the whole thing to rest. And as far as the planets “axis” goes. Its all good and fine on that front. There is no planet, asteroid, or “Mayan” that is saying the earth is to end. Now lets all just chill and get over the fact that the only real danger you should be worrying about is if your next door neighbor is a serial killer. Have a nice day! Oh and if NASA was worried about this stupid stuff then there quest for MARS in 2033 would not be on there top priority right now
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/hst_xena_20060410.html
http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/astrobio/astrobio_detail.cfm?ID=2624
http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/astrobio/astrobio_detail.cfm?ID=2707&search=2012
Thanks Chris, valuable information as usual!
Oh and check this one out too on PLANET X hahaha. http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/astrobio/astrobio_detail.cfm?ID=596&search=Planet%20X
i will never understand why some people dont realize that a crustal shift is a very slow process(basing it from comments on 2012)continental drift just doesnt decide to speed up one day unless there is a massive displacement of weight on the erath. and like was stated in the article the erath is pretty well balanced right now,and if you look at it yes, logic should tell you that the continents are very nicely spaced,then again logic defies some people.
‘NASA keeps track of near planetary objects, and I’m sure they do a good job of it.’ That is an incorrect statement. They do as best a job they can with what they’ve got. NASA only keeps track of Asteroids that are 1km in length, and they only know the location of 40% of them. An Asteroid the size of a football field (100 yards) would cause all sorts of hell if it hit the Earth, and even more if it the Water.
Hell, in 2003 An Asteroid passed between the Earth and our Moon, and NASA didn’t know about it until 3 days later! How did they find out? An amature astronomer was looking into the sky with his telescope, it passed in front, he called NASA ‘uh, hey, so ya, an Asteroid just passed between the Earth and Moon, and that wasn’t on your archive of known objects.’ and NASA was like, ‘uh…rewind? oh look at that, wow that’s scary.’
The last time we passed through the Danger Zone of our Galaxy was about 1,000,000 years ago. It takes an Asteroid from the Danger Zone about 1,000,000 years to reach the Earth. And Jupiter prevented our destruction in 1973 I believe. (The collision that hit Jupiter caused an explosion 4x the size of the Earth.)
In short, Asteroids = a serious threat, as we only know the where abouts of 40% of them, and we only keep track of those 1km in length.
Thanks for your comment Mr. L.
It always comes down to: We simply don’t have a clue what will happen tomorrow.
Hey i was just wonderin,
what will happen at/during a pole shift?
Will the poles melt or something?
Or will it increase volcanic activity? or what
when i read about 2012 on different websites, i got scared and couldnt sleep for days. i messed my exams because of this. i actually didnt believed in doomsday but with so many books and websites, i got scared. when i read this website and some others like this, i was very happy. i trust the god not to destroy this world(with both evil and good). we human beins can solve our problems by peace. doomsday might occur after some 2-3 billion years (andromeda,gleise,sun burn out) or after some 100000000000000000000000(with 1000 zereos) years when big rip or big crunch occurs(this might be also false). one thing for sure , earth core will freeze or greenhouse gas or polar melting will cause catastrophic destruction after million years(by that time we will have technology to relocate to titan or some other planet).GOD SAVE THE HUMANITY FOREVER
If global warming keeps accelerating and the polar ice caps keep shrinking at abnormal rates, won’t that disturb the balance of Earth? I am reminded of an old Clive Cussler novel where someone was trying to blow up the Ross ice shelf to throw off Earths rotation.
Thanks for making my life easier phew! when i heard about 2012 i was like OMG WHAT THE HELL WOULD I DO IN 2012 ? I AM TOO YOUNG TO DIE,LOL.
To all:
Please do not allow science to tell its all safe now…the shift of 2012, we are speaking about would be caused by the galactic alignment with the milky ways black hole and the sun..which scientists just discovered….remember within the last 20 years more absolutes have been found to be false
due to simple changes in physics….we have no idea what a alignment
of this type may do…magnetic fields have changed in our past…
there were no humans according to them…yet 50,000 years in Australia
some theories say ???…these are solid physical movements and will happen….what comes after may be nothing..I would not cancel any appointments….but also i would not buy any ocean front property…
Its about our spirits….stop the fear…..
i asked a question about a polar shift and the “alignment” of 2012 to cornell university’s astronomy division and heres the answer i received…
The crust will definitely slide in the year 2012. But it is also
sliding right now.
Before I explain, let me just say that nothing unusual is going to
happen in 2012. Or at least, nothing that has anything to do with
cosmic alignments or the end of the Mayan calendar. Take a look at our
answer about the Mayan
calendar:http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=686
Anyway, yes, the crust will slide and is sliding, but there will be no
sudden catastrophic movement, except for normal earthquakes. Heres
why…
It would be incredibly difficult to shift the Earth’s entire crust.
First of all, the crust is not a single solid layer like the candy
coating on an M&M, but is broken up into plates that are constantly
colliding and grinding into each other. Even if you could move one
plate, it wouldn’t mean that you would therefore move them all.
Instead you’d just create a new mountain range or ocean trench by
smashing the plates together or driving one under the other.
But it’s even more difficult than that: the Earth’s plates are not
floating on a sea of liquid rock, as many people believe. The crust is
solid rock, and so is the mantle. They act sort of like silly putty:
pull it slowly and it will stretch, but move too fast and it becomes
brittle and breaks. The plates of the crust move because the mantle is
slightly softer than the crust, so over geologic time (millions of
years) they can slide. There is nothing that could happen in the tiny
timespan of one year, such as 2012, that could shift the whole crust
independent of the mantle.
Plus, where would the force to do something like this come from?
Gravity is always there, and it doesn’t suddenly get stronger. Every
piece of matter in the universe is constantly pulling on every other
piece of matter. Tides are just a result of the gravity of the sun and
moon, and that’s not going to change. Meteor impacts happen way too
fast to move the crust as a whole, they just create a big explosion. I
can;t think of anything that could exert a slow, steady force on the
earth’s entire crust to make it shift the way that history channel
show was talking about.
So, bottom line is, don’t worry about 2012. It will be a year like any
other year. It will have its share of natural disasters, but nothing
out of the ordinary.
I hope this helps clear things up. Feel free to contact me if you have
any other questions!
Ryan Anderson
Graduate Student
Cornell University
sorry for pasting this on three of your blogs, im tired of people ignoring the laws of physics and gravity.
I seriously don’t know what to believe in anymore. What I do know for sure is that if the end of the world really was coming in 2012, the NASA or any government will certainly not announce it publicly on TV or on a website….Even if there was proof that the polar shift will occur, I am sure that they will do anything in their power to suppress that information - not propagate it…Do you have any idea what kind of mass panic releasing such information would create??? People would go crazy, they wouldn’t work anymore, pay their debts, etc…In short, the government wouldn’t be able to control them anymore. Wake up people, everything you read on government websites is what they want you to think is happening, not what is actually happening. It’s the same with Aliens lol….even if NASA officials were regularly having coffee with them, telling the population aliens really exist would only create panic, fear, chaos…So instead they prepare people in subtle ways through movies, some leaked information through internet, etc… Anyway it is up to us to find the truth between all this bogus information, but please do not be so naive to believe that the truth is on a NASA website.
hey freinds there is nothing going wrong in 2012.so dnt scared about it.it waz just some fake information by some web sites like aliens.and ufo’s coming on earth.god will save humanity on earth
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=596
chris is a gem 4 this
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=596
YOUR SO RIGHT THAT ALL THE PROPAGANDA IS COMMING FROM THE NET
THE NET = BULL-SHITTERS PARADISE
THE ONLY BAD THING THAT WILL HAPPEN IN 2012 IS THAT THE OLYMPICS IS IN MY HOME COUNTRY AND WE WONT WIN GOLD ON NOTHING LOL
If people knew for certain the world would end in 2012 i’m sure it would have leaked out by now.. The Mayans NEVER said it would end in 2012 Mayanists aka people who study the Mayan culture are not sure if the mayan calender is suppose to reset to 00001 aka dec 22 2012 or if it continues to 200000 “which is like in the year 8000″and then resets This whole 2012 doomsday theory was started in the 1970s by some guy named Jose Auguilles like I said if the Mayans were 100% sure the world would end in 2012 it would have been passed down from generation to generation and eventually leaked into the public as for all these theroies most of them are possible but theres a better chance of you walking down the street tripping and breaking your neck then the poles shifting like I said on another article I spoke with an stronomer he said “most scientists agree a large object would need to hti the earth to cause a crustal pole shift” as for asteroids theres a program called the Catalina sky survery that currently has catologed 90% of all deadly asteroids but say one were aimed at us we could shoot a nuke at it sure it would break into alot of smaller pieces still causing damage but would you rather not do anything to the asteroid and end up the same as the dinosaurs I think not..
Who said the world was going to end?? The poles WILL shift, that has already been proven. From North to South, the equator will be above Canada. Now the question is how fast will this happen? And when will it happen?? And are YOU ready? In your heart, have you repented all your sins and all that shit?
I have been writing on this and trying to collect facts in one place…good to know we have people who also believe in Facts ….who cares if it happens or not….at Least we Got our Facts right!!.. Thats the whole point…Live your Live …Enjoy the time you have….but BE AWARE of whats happening around you!!! Peace !
what about the “crossing the galatic equator” thing with 2012.
scientist recently confirmed that the mayans are correct about the alignments and that is impressive.
whether we will have catastropies is another question but weird things happen on earth when you cross the equator and if the galaxy is magnetic also then we may be crossing from one pole to the other on that day.
could anything happen because of that?
Lets get out the iron-on’s and T-shirts. Cash in and have a fallout party….or wait for fallout 3 to be release in October and enjoy the massive destruction in the game.
But on a more sensible tune, I can only wonder why people are so ready to call the end out with a specific time table. No one knows when the end will come, nor if it is in this generation. But to keep things in perspective, live life without fear, welcome knowledge, understanding and wisdom… God only knows when. Pole shifting yes, the end,,,,ummm I can’t say, so please stop predicting the end of the world and creating havoc.
To me the worst thing that happens is I won’t get any more computer games to loose myself in. Stress is the true killer.
If the Mayans were so SMART!!! Then how in the name of all things good and holy did they not see that SPANISH coming and their own demise…ouch…that was a bit of an oversight…
I,m specifically interested in the effect of polar shift on gravitional field, could we be in for zero gravity.
first and foremost, to those terriably worried about these things, check the net and all these so called survival guides….well if the world were to end…why in the hell would they be worrying about money? personally i would be much more concerned if i started seeing these things for the sake of humanity…also if you believe in God (which i do) i’m pretty sure jesus says something along the lines of no man will know the time of my coming. could be may 4, 2009. however for those that feel that they really need to be prepared, my advice would be pick up a bible, treat all those you meet with compassion, treat people how you would like to be treated…love each other, and treat your life as a gift, be the best person you can possiably be. lol sorry i know i’m justa tad bit off topic..i loved these articles you have done a fine job
I can’t believe how my fears just go away when I read these articles by you! I hope in the future you will be able to write articles about some of the other theories going around like the Supervolcano in Yellowstone and the Novelty Theory. I would love to see those. Thanks!
@Captain Chris: No problems, I’m glad this article helped you!
Nice articles, thank you so much!
But what do you know about the theory on that the earth is growing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjgidAICoQI
Not saying it’s true, neither it isn’t but it just makes me wonder….
Can you give some enlightment on that subject?
if north becomes south does east become west?