The True History of Atlantis
The real nature of the Lost Continent of Atlantis is simple (and this concept has been copyrighted by myself). It was an ice-shelf. Like the Ross Ice Shelf and the Weddell Ice Shelf off Antarctica. During the last Ice Age an enormous ice shelf formed around the Azores Islands in the Mid-Atlantic (the Azores of course were much larger in extent because the oceans were shallower as so much water was tied up in the frozen ice caps). During the thousands of years the Ice Age lasted the volcanic Azores had the usual number of eruptions. These eruptions would have been of the mild oceanic variety (like present day Kilauea) and these would have spread an enormous and thick coat of insulating ash, pumice, and lava rock all over the ice shelf adjacent to the Azores. Wind-borne dust (loess) and seaborne sand, driftwood and other detritus would also have accummulated. Birds would have found the isolated landmass very quickly (the very name Azores comes from the Portuguese for "hawk" because of their one-time abundance) and they would have been the first colonists and with no land predators present their numbers would have increased enormously. Their droppings (guano) would have enriched the soil to a huge extent especially as they and their nesting could have been undisturbed for thousands of years. They probably would have been joined by bats as colonists and these two types of animals may well have evolved into specialized and large varieties as is common on long isolated islands. These may have been the basis for the legends of gryphons, gargoyles, dragons, wyverns, basilisks and other flying or birdlike beasts of legend. Inevitably the size of the island, probably as large as the present countries of Western Europe, the relative shallowness of the seas and their narrowed condition separating Atlantis from the mainland, would have made it possible for even primitive humans to find their way over. After all the Aboriginals of Australia crossed straits as wide to reach that continent, and the nautical abilities of the Stone Age Polynesians are even more impressive. The first arrivals would have found a paradise.
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