www-greenland.com

Chapter 2: The Shape of the Water – Geodesy and the Equatorial Bulge

To understand how the Spinning North Pole (SNP) moves over millions of years, and how it could have shifted 15 degrees in the recent past, we must first understand the shape of the planet.

We are taught in grade school that the Earth is a sphere. This is a convenient lie. The Earth is, to be precise, an "Oblate Spheroid." It is shaped like a pumpkin or a slightly squashed tangerine. Because the Earth spins, the centrifugal force—the outward "flinging" force—is zero at the poles but immense at the equator. This force drags the fluid oceans and the plastic mantle outward, creating a literal mountain of water and rock around the planet’s waistline.

This "Equatorial Bulge" creates a radius at the equator that is 27 miles wider than the radius through the poles. This bulge is critical to our theory because it acts as the "Gyroscopic Stabilizer." It acts like the weighted rim of a frisbee, keeping the spin steady.

Standard skeptics of True Polar Wander often use this bulge as their primary shield. They argue, "You cannot move the Pole, because the bulge acts as a brake. To shift the axis by 15 or 20 degrees, you would have to physically drag that 27-mile-high mountain of mass through the solid Earth to a new position. The friction would be impossible."

This objection holds true for a solid, brittle Earth. But the Earth is not brittle. The Earth behaves as a "Viscoelastic" fluid over time. It acts like putty, not granite.

Geologic history proves that the Bulge acts less like a brake and more like a fluid wave. We know from deep time records—going back to the Cambrian and Jurassic periods—that the SNP has not remained fixed. We find coal beds (which form in hot swamps) in Antarctica. We find evidence of polar glaciations in the Sahara Desert (the Ordovician Glaciation).

While plate tectonics (drifting continents) explains some of this, it cannot explain all of it. There are moments in deep time where the latitude of every continent shifted simultaneously. This proves that the Earth has re-oriented its Bulge many times. The "Waistline" of the planet is not a permanent geological feature; it is a temporary accommodation of the spin.

When the crust shifts—whether in a rapid adjustment like the Greenland Pivot or a slower shift over millions of years—the Bulge does not stop the movement. Instead, the Bulge migrates. The water of the oceans flows instantly to the new equator (The Slosh), and the mantle rocks slowly creep to the new position over thousands of years to match the new spin. The "Shape of the Water" defines our world, and water goes wherever the Spin commands it.

Discourse 2: Viscoelasticity and the Deformable Geoid

2.1 The Myth of the Rigid Earth: Identifying the Timescale

The primary objection to True Polar Wander (TPW) is the stabilizing force of the equatorial bulge. In classical mechanics, a spinning oblate spheroid is highly stable. The extra mass at the equator acts as a flywheel, resisting any change to the axis of rotation. This leads many to argue that the energy required to shift the crust 15 or 20 degrees against this bulge is prohibitive.

This objection holds true for a rigid body—like a spinning steel bearing. If the Earth were solid steel, it could never shift its axis. However, the Earth acts as a viscoelastic solid.

Viscoelasticity describes materials that exhibit both viscous (fluid-like) and elastic (solid-like) characteristics when undergoing deformation. The determining factor is the timescale of the force applied.

Consider the polymer compound "Silly Putty" or hot pitch.

• Elastic Response (Short Timescale): If you strike it with a hammer, it shatters like glass. This corresponds to the Earth responding to seismic waves or rapid tectonic slippage (Earthquakes). In this timeframe, the Earth is brittle.

• Viscous Response (Long Timescale): If you apply gentle, constant pressure over a minute, it flows like honey. This corresponds to Isostatic Adjustment (crust rising after ice melts) and Polar Wander.

Over a timeline of centuries or millennia, the Earth does not behave like rock; it behaves like a highly viscous liquid. It has a memory of its shape, but it can be remolded. The equatorial bulge is not a permanent mountain chain fused to the equator; it is a dynamic feature. It exists only because of the centrifugal force of the current spin. If the spin axis moves, the bulge doesn't fight the move forever; it begins to dismantle itself in the old location and reform in the new location.

2.2 Remolding the Geoid

Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring the Earth's geometric shape. We often refer to the "Geoid," which is the shape the ocean surface would take under the influence of gravity and rotation alone.

When the axis shifts (TPW), the rotational vector moves relative to the solid earth. Let us posit that the Pole moves 15 degrees.

• The Hydro-Dynamic Adjustment (Fast): The liquid oceans react instantly. The water bulge rushes to the new equator. This creates the "Marine Transgressions" or "Slosh" discussed later, as the water level drops at the old equator and rises at the new one.

• The Viscous Adjustment (Slow): The solid mantle takes time. Gravity pulls down on the "Old Bulge," causing it to slowly subside. Simultaneously, centrifugal force pushes outward at the "New Equator," causing the land to slowly rise.

The stabilization argument implies that the friction of the mantle prevents the shift. But calculations of mantle viscosity (approximately

       102110^{21}1021

Pascal-seconds) suggest that the "relaxation time" for the Earth’s shape is on the order of thousands of years—comparable to the glacial rebound timescale. Therefore, the Bulge does not stop a 1,500-year polar drift; it simply lags behind it, creating geodetic tension that is eventually resolved through flow.

2.3 Deep Time Evidence: Inertial Interchange True Polar Wander

To prove that the SNP (Spinning North Pole) is not fixed, we look to the concept of Inertial Interchange True Polar Wander (IITPW). This is a theoretically predicted instability event found in planetary physics equations.

A rotating body likes to spin around its "maximum principal moment of inertia" (basically, spinning so the heavy bits are at the equator). However, if plate tectonics (internal drift) or volcanic output shifts enough mass so that the second principal axis of inertia becomes larger than the maximum axis, the entire planet becomes rotationally unstable.

Physics dictates that the planet must then tumble—potentially by 90 degrees—to place this new mass at the equator. There is compelling paleomagnetic evidence in rocks from the Late Neoproterozoic (approx. 800 million years ago) and potentially the Early Jurassic suggesting that Earth has undergone these massive 90-degree adjustments in the past.

If the Earth has survived massive 90-degree tumbles in deep time without tearing apart, it is mechanically absurd to argue it cannot sustain a minor 15-degree correction in the Pleistocene. The "Standard Model" admits the SNP moves over millions of years; the Greenland Pivot simply argues that the most recent adjustment happened faster than usual, triggered by the metastable ice mass.