Searching for the Lost Continent

Russian scientist believes, Atlantis lies between Gibraltar and the Azores

Doctor of Geology and Mineralogy, professor Alexander Gorodnitsky has recently celebrated his 70th birthday.  This is a world-known scientist from the Russian Institute of Oceanology. Alexander Gorodnitsky is also known in Russia as a poet and a song writer.

Alexander Gorodnitsky chaired the laboratory of the marine geophysics at the Arctic Geology Research Institute in Leningrad. He took part in a lot of expeditions in various areas of the World Ocean, he explored the ocean at the depth of five kilometers in underwater vehicles. He was the first scientist in the world to calculate the lithosphere power. The professor published more than 260 scientific works, including eight studies about the geology and geophysics of the ocean floor.

You wrote a song about Atlases, you read books about Atlantis. What is it: a return to the old romantic hobby, or something more serious?

It is probably both. Vyacheslav Kudryavtsev, Director of the Metahistory Institute, believes, there is a mouth of an ancient river on the continental slope to the south-west of the British Isles. Kudryavtsev thinks, an ancient town might have existed on the banks of the river too. He is determined to go there to explore that place. There is no actual evidence to prove that supposition, but a theory says that the Greenland ice melted in the beginning of the historic time, and the Gulf Stream made it to the north. The continent with such a beautiful name - Atlantis - was flooded as a result of the ocean level change. It seemed to be very interesting to me, especially after we came across a strange construction under the water - it looked like the ruins of an ancient city.

We have all necessary equipment at our disposal at the Oceanology Institute: we have underwater probes and vehicles, which allow to submerge to the depth of the ocean. We have already developed the project of the mission, freighted a ship, we have even obtained a permission from the UK. We just need $200,000 for the expedition, but Russian sponsors have refused to help us.

Why breaking a lance - a lot of people believe that there is no Atlantis at all, because there has not been any evidence found to prove the existence of the ancient continent.

The absence of findings is not supposed to be the base to say no to further attempts and works. It simply testifies to the low level of the research. About 15 years ago scientists found a proof that a large ancient civilization used to exist - the huge Hittite Kingdom. 

I think that the lost continent is situated somewhere between Gibraltar and the Azores. In 1984 and 1986 our expedition was working on the slopes of Mount Ampere, when we found very strange constructions at the depth of only 100 meters - they looked like rooms and walls. I submerged to see that myself, made some sketches. Other geologists drew alters or walls - that was what they had seen, we could not take any photographs at that time. At first it seemed to me that those rooms and walls had been created by the nature, but the rooms were equal in size. The human psychology is organized very specifically: if someone had said that professor Gorodnitsky found the lost continent, no one would have believed such a message.

Yes, it is true, but there were a lot of other scientists, who were trying to find Atlantis, Jacques Yves Cousteau, for example.

It was Cousteau, who explored the sea floor around Santorin volcano and found the ruins of an ancient state there. A lot of people believed that it was Atlantis. However, such a point of view contradicted to Plato's words, who said that Atlantis was situated on the other side of Pillar of Hercules. From the point of view of the modern geology, I dare to prove that the underwater mountain chain between Gibraltar and the Azores is the lost continent. Canaries and Green Cape islands are the last peaks of Atlantis.

Atlas stands next to Pillar of Hercules, which means that ancient people had reasons for that. Of course, it would be ridiculous to think that we will find a golden statue or ruins of ancient towns. Any expedition has a chance to be a success, because there is always an opportunity to discover something new. If we manage to prove that Europe used to spread far behind the Pyrenees, it will change the perception of the human history. In addition to it, it is a great chance for Russian scientists to discover Atlantis!

Scientists say, the angle of inclination of the axis of the equator is changing, which will eventually make continents collide with each other. The collision will cause a monstrous earthquake, the land will sink under the water, tsunamis will flood practically everything. What is your attitude to such forecasts?

They are nonsense. The stability of continent plates tectonics is determined with endogenous (internal) factors. As far as the Earth's axis is concerned, one may not worry about it for the coming 100,000 years. It will remain as it is now and will not cause an earthquake that would be capable of destroying continents.