Expert: Ralph Salier - 3/15/2011

Question
To whom it may concern,



First, my name is Devon, and I hope you can help me answer a question that is bothering me presently.  As you know, recently the earthquakes that occured just off the coast of Japan caused the tsunami.  Well, as an interested party, I was looking over the topography of the Pacific plate, when I stumbled over something that has been keeping me up at night.  The specific area is that of 45N and 160w, and the reason I went to check that area, was due to my own leap of logic that this would potentially be an upcoming danger area for eruptions or plumes.  



Now.. what I saw there shook me.  From a distance of approximately 498miles in height.. I see this very distinct, very obviously created landscape.  I took from past underwater cities, and see similar though more eroded paths, in particular those in the area of 9s 43e. These in general are best viewed at approximately 643 miles in height.  I used Google earth, as well as topography going back to 2000.  And, in further I found an M.I.T study, partially funded by NASA, sent to the same area, as well as found it has a generally higher wave pool centering above it.  I can give you the link to the actual study by charlotte if you see fit to look into this further.  



Next I tried to find the obvious, Glacier formation or erosion due to, and nothing is potentially viable under examination.  This is no small area either, and rather large in scope and seemingly interconnected with other areas.  It was made, but as yet goes unexplored...  While its far more prevalent in structure than anything else I can find thus far on the earths surface.  It looks very laid out like a city, and a very very acutely made one at that.  The angles, the unbelievable perfect measurments..  Im astounded there is nothing said of this area.  



SO, I come to you, hopefully for answers, and better sleep *smile*

Thanks in Advance for any of your time, and please, contact me if you can help



Sincerely

Devon

Answer
Hi Devon,

Follow up answer -

Take a look at any big city from 600 miles up in space and also the Rocky Mountains or the Himilyan Mountains and you will begin to get a feel for the real scale of Nature vs. Man.  Our cities are tiny in comparison.  Even at the scale of Ankor Wat or the old Chinese imperial city, they are dwarfed by the size and majesty of nature.  And while the features you saw, and feel intimidated by, they are just part of the majesty of our natural world.  It is awesome.












While this looks interesting, it is an artifact of techtonics, not of human habitation.  First of all the area you are looking at is thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean and secondly the area is vast.  If you look at Mexico City or New York City in comparison for size, they are tiny in comparison.  

From a techtonics perspective, the oceanic plates grow from mid oceanic ridges. This occurs at a fairly steady rate and this creates "bands" of growth. As these run into continental plates, they buckle and crack creating relatively regular looking features.  There are subduction zones all around the pacific (also called the ring of fire) as the Pacific plate gets subducted below the continental plates. (It also causes major earthquakes like the one that just happened in Japan).  

The other factor that you are running into is that Google Earth has depicted the ocean floor in a way that it really can't since what it actually looks like is not fully known.  You can't see it from space and while some of these areas have been sonar mapped, not all of it has. And there are limitations to sonar mapping (This is also true for radar mapping).  So, what you see on Google earth is an artifact of creative thinking and some hard science mixed together.

Don't believe every thing you find on the internet.