Pre "Younger Dryas" Map of Earth

[Rhys]

I had a go at creating a map of what the Earth would have looked like just before the Younger Dryas event. It's pretty much based on the information in @Pierre's "Cometary Encounters" book.

I'd love for someone to weigh in and point out anything I have missed. The North Pole has been moved to the Hudson Bay region, I got rid of all the ice around Greenland and Antarctica, and dropped the sea level 65m.



I added a grid so you can see the old latitudes (placed at 10 degree increments). It's strange to see the U.K at the same latitude as Honduras, Scandinavia and the northern coast of Siberia!

 

[axj]

It's also interesting that parts of Antarctica would have been the same latitude as Australia and South Africa.

I think one thing that may be missing is the impact of isostatic and eustatic forces due to the melting of the Northern ice shields. According to Randall Carlson these forces may explain the sinking of the Azores plateau at the triple-plate-junction.

 

[axj]

Here he explains it:

 

[Rhys]

Interesting video! And one that sends me back to the drawing board! “Rebound of between 400-1000m” means, essentially, and old world map is anyone’s guess!

I used ETOPO1 bedrock data as a starting point. I’d like to edit the map but it would include a heck of a lot of guesswork as to how these isostatic and eustatic forces would affect the crust obviously. I wish I had more time!

 

[Cosmos]

Nice idea and project! I‘m wondering, have you taken cartographic science into account in how you approached this? I’m asking because from my very limited understanding of the subject there seem to be certain rules that apply to cartography and the different projection methods in order to represent a sphere into a 2 dimensional map. As far as I understand it, every projection method thus far invented has its drawbacks, including the standard one that is usually employed (including big drawbacks). Years ago some japanese people claimed to have „invented“ (or rather employed) are far more accurate projection method, which still has some drawbacks though. I wrote about it here:

Cartography Revolution: Most Accurate World Map: How The World Really Looks​

 

[Rhys]

@Cosmos thats a really elegant solution! I like how he tessellates the map and can then "dissect" a projection that suits his purposes!

I have taken cartographic science into account as much as I am able to. The dataset I used to build the map is just binary data that you can play with. I found a visual basic program that was able to "rotate" the coordinates of the data. I picked the Mercator projection because it's the most familiar to people, but it distorts both shape and area around the poles which is frustrating.

I have just made a "Hammer" projection of Eurasia and the Americas. I'm having trouble uploading the image at present through! Its an equal area projection and it reduces distortion in many areas compared to other projections (it looks nice, too!).

Watch this space

 

[Rhys]

Here they are:

 

[Yupo]

Wondering about Lemuria, supposedly West of South America. Nice to see Doggerland. Interesting that the Andaman Islands were isolated even then. Native legend apparently correct about Tasmania being joined to Australia long ago.