List Members,
Gerry posted this on another list:
With regard to your evident concerns about the Arctic icecap thinning over the past 25 years. I think you might discover that this is probably being caused by the warming of the Arctic Ocean waters over the top end of the Mid- Atlantic Ridge - which is highly tectonic and volcanic - and which actually starts just north-west of the New Siberian Islands, then runs alongside the Nansen Cordillera across the Arctic polar basin, to follow a zig-zag path on down past Greenland, under Iceland, and out into the North Atlantic.
Most decent tectonic-plate maps and charts will show this
Mid Atlantic Ridge, but few show it so clearly as the world globe images which appear on the "Age of the Ocean Floor" poster - a sample of which you can find at this site:
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/crustageposter.jpg
For those of the group who haven't yet seen this poster, you can blow the small image up to almost the full printed size, and I'm sure you'll be astonished at what else you'll find on this poster! Look especially at the central globe image at the top of the poster! (I sent to the States for the actual poster and the detail on it is really excellent.) I personally believe that the "black blob" midway between the top of Greenland and the New Siberia Islands is the site of the polar hole! It could be as simple as that! Remember "Occam's Razor", folks! The simplest answer is often the correct one! Let me know what you think, folks!
Best Regards to all.
Gerry.
(PS. Sorry about my absence from the group of late (should anyone happen to be have been wondering!) but I've been having some problems with my computer this past couple of weeks, and now my printer has succumbed to the pounding I've been giving it, and has finally carked it! G.)