Dave Talbott's claims about the "pear shaped" Earth

From: dtalbott@teleport.com (David N. Talbott)
Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Re: VELIKOVSKY Symposium- Florida, July 12
Date: 2 Aug 96 02:36:17 GMT
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Of the t.o regulars I would have to say that Bob Grumbine and Andrew
Macrae are the two who have shown a credible interest in this thread.
From here on I'm going to limit my time to developing a discourse with
these two.  I had written to Andrew--

>>So the here's the deal I propose:  I will take the time (I promise) over
>>the next few months to look into the lunar tides issue, if you will go
>>back over your response on the following issues and acknowledge the
>>difficulties facing conventional theory, as admitted in numerous studies
>>or reviews: 
>>north polar bulge of the Earth, 

>  How large is this, and what makes it difficult for conventional theory?

I was introduced to this issue by Fred Hall (now deceased), former
engineer at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory.  Fred had sent me
a mainstream article outlining two theories of the polar bulge, the
article saying that neither theory was proven and the bulge still
presented an enigma. Fred's point was that any geological theory that
didn't explain the south polar bulge on Mars was probably a bad theory,
since the existence of axially-centered bulges is an anomaly and violates
conventional models of planetary evolution.

Because the Saturn theory postulated axial alignment of Mars and Earth in
close conjunction, with gravitational forces acting along the axis, there
is an interesting resonance of the two anomalies with the theory.

Here is my rudimentary understanding:

A standard model of a rotating planet will have a relatively small
portion of total surface area, centered on the poles, lying *inside* the
perfect sphere, while a larger surface area of each hemisphere will lie
outside the perfect sphere, this distortion being greatest at the equator.

In the case of both the Earth and Mars, the anomaly to be explained is a 
unique pear shape.  The southern hemisphere of Mars and the northern
hemisphere of Earth reverse the situation predicted by the standard model.
The greater portion of the Earth's northern hemisphere is *inside* the
perfect sphere, while a bulge, centered on the north pole, is *outside*
the perfect sphere.  

The situation is reversed on Mars, and the distortion is vastly greater,
as would be expected if tidal forces were involved (since Mars is so much
less massive than the Earth).

In launching our communications with specialists, we would like to see
explored any level of evidence bearing on the possibility of former tidal
forces acting along the earth axis, creating a tidal bulge that later
subsided.  I am interested, for example, in the magnetic orientation of
rock in the northern hemisphere.  If the orientation was created long
prior to the hypothesized events, what should we look for in terms of
displacement from the pole?  And what should be the relationship of this
displacement to latitude?  I find extremely fascinating the fragmentary 
information passed on to me by one correspondent, who notes that at
certain latitudes the orientation is *above* the pole, while at others it
is *below* the pole, suggesting a unique pattern of crustal displacement,
possibly under influences acting along the world axis.

Evidence of flooding and possibly catastrophic movement of rock, sediment
and debris in patterns consistent with the hypothesized tidal forces
should also be considered, along with changes in ocean levels *in
relationship to latitude* that might be predicted by a model of a 
subsiding polar bulge.

The existence of tropical Hypsithermal vegetation beneath the polar cap
should also factor into the discussion.  (Not to mention the evidence for
catastrophic extermination of mammoths and other animals inhabiting the
arctic regions.)
 
And I'm quite sure there is much, much more to be explored, but you have
to start somewhere.

Dave

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