THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH 



11 



Af+B/onc 



are considering is the naked surface of the rock. In a broad way, 

 the earth's shape will be given by the arrangement of the oceans 

 and the continents. As 

 soon as we take up the 

 study of this arrangement, 

 we find that quite signifi- 

 cant facts of distribution 

 are disclosed. 



One of the most signifi- 

 cant facts involved in the 

 distribution of land and 

 sea, is a concentration of 

 the land areas within the 

 northern and the seas 

 within the southern hemi- 

 sphere. The noteworthy 

 exception is the occurrence 

 of the great and high 

 Antarctic continent cen- 

 tered near the earth's 



south pole ; and there are extensions of the northern 

 continent as narrowing land masses to the southward 

 of the equator. Hardly less significant than the ex- 

 istence of land and water hemispheres is the reciprocal 

 or antipodal distribution of land and sea (Fig. 2). 

 A third fact of significance is a dovetailing together of sea and 



land along an east- 

 and-west direction. 

 While the seas are 

 generally A-shaped 

 and narrow north- 

 ward, the land masses 

 are V-shaped and nar- 

 row southward, but 

 this occurs mainly in 

 the southern hemi- 

 sphere. Lastly, there 



f/oor 



Depth 



FIG. 1. Diagrams to afford 

 a correct impression of the 

 measure of the inequalities 

 upon the earth's surface com- 

 pared to the earth's radius. 

 The shell represented in 6 is 

 YTO of the earth's radius, and 

 in a this zone is magnified 

 for comparison with surface 

 inequalities. 



FIG. 2. Map on Mercator's projection to show the 

 reciprocal relation of the land and sea areas (after 

 Gregory and Arldt). 



is some indication of 

 a belt of sea dividing 



