According to the Daily Mail, the Atlantis theory had a lot going for it. Consisting of city-like grid lines, the image was located in the Canary Basin, about 620 miles west of Africa’s Canary islands, and east of the Konstantinov Ridge. And it lay about 3.5 miles below the surface–right about where the ancient Greek philosopher Plato said it would be. Unfortunately, the whole thing just didn’t add up.
First, the image is far too large to be that of an ancient city, and in fact, it’s about 20 times the size of Greater London. Second, the lines aren’t actually on the sea floor but instead are a result of Google’s mapping process. As Google explains:
Users are seeing an artifact of the data collection process. Bathymetric (or sea-floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea-floor. The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data. The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world’s oceans.”
So, while Atlantis searchers are probably justifiably disappointed, it looks like it’s safe to say that the discovery is all-wet.
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