6. If ail the Ice in the world should melt, what would happen? 



The possibility that all the ice in the world would melt is extremely 

 remote. If it should happen, the time span would be measured in thou- 

 sands of years and the increased weight of the water would probably 

 cause the ocean basins to sink and the land masses to rise. 



In the unlikely event that all the world's ice would suddenly melt, 

 the sea level all over the world could rise as much as 500 or 600 feet. 

 The Antarctic ice cap alone covers 6 million square miles and, if melted, 

 would yield about 6.5 million cubic miles of water, enough to feed the 

 Mississippi for more than 50,000 years. 



A rise of even 100 feet would flood most of the Atlantic seaboard 

 of the United States, including all the major cities. A rise of 600 feet 

 would cause the seas to cover 85 or 90 percent of the earth's surface 

 (the oceans now cover about 71 percent of the earth's surface). The 

 United States would be split in two by the "Mississippi Sea" which would 

 join the Gulf of Mexico with the Great Lakes. 



On the basis of evidence gathered from all over the world. Dr. Rhodes 

 Fairbridge of Columbia University concludes that some 6,000 years ago 

 the oceans rose about 14 meters within a few centuries, flooding almost 

 all the areas where man had begun to found civilizations. He believes 

 this to be the same Great Flood described in the Bible, in Buddhist rec- 

 ords, and in legends handed down in many lands. 



There is also the possibility that the ice age is not yet over and that 

 the ice caps may again increase in size. If another glacial advance com- 

 parable to the last one should occur, many of the important manu- 

 facturing and agricultural areas of the world would be covered, forcing 

 widespread migrations. 



Ericson, David B., and Goesta Wollin 



The Deep and the Past, Alfred A. Knopf, 1964. 

 Freuchen, Peter 



Peter Freuchen's Book of the Seven Seas, Julian Messner, 1957. 

 Gaskell, T. F. 



World Beneath the Oceans, American Museum of Natural History, 



1964. 



