Amateur computer-screen-oceanographers of the world were brought back down to earth this week when a couple of actual scientists provided an explanation for markings in the ocean conjectured to be the lost city of Atlantis. Walter Smith and David Sandwell of Scripps Institute of Oceanography claim that the grid-like markings were likely caused by the echosounding of ships, a process by which the depth of the water below the ship at any given point is determined.
While many are accepting the explanation and simply calling Smith and Sandwell a couple of Buzz Killingtons some commenters are disputing the echosounding theory, stating that the straightness of the lines could not have been any ship’s trajectory. A counter argument returned that even if the lines were from an ancient subterranean structure, the city blocks of this assumed city would have to be over 50 miles long. A rebuttal from the other side of the table said that it was, like, thousands of years ago and maybe that’s how long blocks were back then, so shut up.
Either way, that’s one more fun, fantastical thing killed by nautical science. Next week: The giant squid is actually a bunch of fishing nets tangled together.
