Could it have to do with the fact the earth preceses in its rotation? If the North Pole precesses more than the South Pole it may draw the continents southward. . . .
Looking at the posts people keep mentioning gravity !? Gravity doesnt pull stuff south or "down" it hold things to the surface of the planet on all side equally
It is an artifact of the break-up of Pangaea the last supercontinent and in particular the position of Panagaea at the time of the break-up and subsequent plate motions. Think of a big round pie like blob- Pangaea- break it up and you're going get a lot of pointy pie slice shaped pieces (present plates). Now move those pieces radially outward from the centre without too much rotation and lo and behold all the pointy ends will all be pointing towards the approximate (south) centered centre of old Pangaea. Quite possibly beacuse we cycle over a rough 500-700 million year period from supercontinent to many continents after the next cycle we will live in a world where all the pointy bits will be pointing north. Anyone want to bet?
ummmm...well...the general rule sorta kinda applies...im guessing...that the earth is egg shaped due to its spinning making it fatter at the equator and thus tectonic stress is focused along longitudinal lines and this "cracking " makes more long features with north south alignment...but im silly...
Easy. Continental Drip, otherwise known as the Sherwin Williams Theory, first formulated by John Holden (a real geologist with a weird sense of humor).Since the proportion of ocean to land increases southward, statistically southward projections would outnumber northerly ones. South coasts far outnumber north coasts. Add to the north-pointing counter-examples: Boothia, Labrador, Taymir, Qatar, Olympic, northern Scandinavia, northern Oman, Yamal (Russia), Cape Bon (Tunisia), Tangier, Guajira (Colombia), and Melville.
Just on a hunch, I would say that it all strongly relies on a combination of the earth's magnetic field and geotidal forces. Magnetic field has been proven to shift every so often (last was 770,000 yrs ago), source of continental drift, couldn't this have an influence on the direction of landmass shapes? Not really very magical or amazing, except in the sense that our whole environment is amazing and how little we usually understand about the forces that control it.
Yes, there are exceptions. And we don’t have to be mystical about it. However, we can just look and see an overall trend. Here’s an experiment. Just ask the peninsula question to people while they stare at a map and ask them if more pointy things point South than North. Even the big pointy stuff (Africa, India, South America really jumps out. Then look at the Mediterranean Sea, etc. Another experiment. Don’t even show people a map. Then asks them if more pointy things point South than North. They say South.
Alaska points west. Arabia points southeast. Turkey points west. Cape York points north. East Siberia points east. Somalia points east, West Africa points west. Scandinavia is a peninsula that points west, and south, but before that it goes north for a bit. It is a mere statistical anomaly like the fact that the Northern Hemisphere has more land than the Southern Hemisphere. To say that there is some mystical or religious meaning is just hocus pocus.
Could it have to do with the fact the earth preceses in its rotation? If the North Pole precesses more than the South Pole it may draw the continents southward. . . .
humm.
Has literally nothing to do with it.
There is no "pointing." It's an illusion.
Looking at the posts people keep mentioning gravity !? Gravity doesnt pull stuff south or "down" it hold things to the surface of the planet on all side equally
there arrows to god. picture a hot air balloon.
That is a cool observation. Who was first on record to notice it?
It is an artifact of the break-up of Pangaea the last supercontinent and in particular the position of Panagaea at the time of the break-up and subsequent plate motions. Think of a big round pie like blob- Pangaea- break it up and you're going get a lot of pointy pie slice shaped pieces (present plates). Now move those pieces radially outward from the centre without too much rotation and lo and behold all the pointy ends will all be pointing towards the approximate (south) centered centre of old Pangaea. Quite possibly beacuse we cycle over a rough 500-700 million year period from supercontinent to many continents after the next cycle we will live in a world where all the pointy bits will be pointing north. Anyone want to bet?
My thoughts exactly.
yo,lets simplify this a bit.a candle tip burns north,candle drips south=gravity plus magnetism.
Not only that, they are surrounded on three sides by water!
It's just the highest point of the land sticking up after the last ice-age sheet retreated.
ummmm...well...the general rule sorta kinda applies...im guessing...that the earth is egg shaped due to its spinning making it fatter at the equator and thus tectonic stress is focused along longitudinal lines and this "cracking " makes more long features with north south alignment...but im silly...
has any one ever seen a map of MICHIGAN?
Easy. Continental Drip, otherwise known as the Sherwin Williams Theory, first formulated by John Holden (a real geologist with a weird sense of humor).Since the proportion of ocean to land increases southward, statistically southward projections would outnumber northerly ones. South coasts far outnumber north coasts. Add to the north-pointing counter-examples: Boothia, Labrador, Taymir, Qatar, Olympic, northern Scandinavia, northern Oman, Yamal (Russia), Cape Bon (Tunisia), Tangier, Guajira (Colombia), and Melville.
Why do the rise from the south and expand to the north?? ######################### ######################### ###
Just on a hunch, I would say that it all strongly relies on a combination of the earth's magnetic field and geotidal forces. Magnetic field has been proven to shift every so often (last was 770,000 yrs ago), source of continental drift, couldn't this have an influence on the direction of landmass shapes? Not really very magical or amazing, except in the sense that our whole environment is amazing and how little we usually understand about the forces that control it.
Yes, there are exceptions. And we don’t have to be mystical about it. However, we can just look and see an overall trend. Here’s an experiment. Just ask the peninsula question to people while they stare at a map and ask them if more pointy things point South than North. Even the big pointy stuff (Africa, India, South America really jumps out. Then look at the Mediterranean Sea, etc. Another experiment. Don’t even show people a map. Then asks them if more pointy things point South than North. They say South.
Alaska points west. Arabia points southeast. Turkey points west. Cape York points north. East Siberia points east. Somalia points east, West Africa points west. Scandinavia is a peninsula that points west, and south, but before that it goes north for a bit. It is a mere statistical anomaly like the fact that the Northern Hemisphere has more land than the Southern Hemisphere. To say that there is some mystical or religious meaning is just hocus pocus.
So why? Centrifugal force + gravity or what?