Free Atlantis and the Silver City by Peter Daughtrey Page B

developing over a long period of time in those conditions would have been remote. Nor would that region have fit the clues Plato provided regarding climate, crops, flora, and fauna. This also partly explains why he fails to mention other coasts, or anything beyond the mountains. In time, however, the civilization would almost certainly have stretched up the west coast, at least as far as Lisbon.
    The continuous southern coasts of Andalucía and Portugal’s Algarve curve around, protruding southwest into the Atlantic at Cape St. Vincent as a peninsula in its own right. If this was the area Plato was referring to, it must mean that the major civilized area, principally the great southern plain he mentioned, was the part that sank 11,600 years ago. Before this disaster, the peninsula would have protruded much more, with more dry land also right up to and around the mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar.
    But I do not think the solution is that simple. As already discussed, the seabed map for the area off the Algarve coast shows several large, very flat areas that are separated by sudden drops in levels and are called planalto (plains). In the sea off the western end of the Algarve, 210 kilometers southwest of Cape St. Vincent, is the area known as the Gorringe Bank (or Ridge). It is a substantial area, 60 kilometers by 180 kilometers, and is much shallower than the surrounding seabed, parts of it only 30 metersdeep. There are other similar areas to the west and south before the Canary Islands, some of which could have been above sea level before the great glacier melt—as would parts of the Gorringe Bank.
    At some time in the past, all these could possibly have been linked as one or several landmasses above water. Maybe they even connected to Cape St. Vincent; but in this case, some areas would have to have sunk considerably, as the sea plumbs great depths in parts. Geologists are now beginning to accept that sudden movements up or down, of thousands of feet, have taken place in various parts of the world (see Chapter Fifteen). The area around the submerged Gorringe Bank is a highly volatile seismic region. This is where the 1755 earthquake originated and, combined with others, caused the dramatic sinking of parts of the seabed, with some parts thrust upward. 38
    The possibility cannot be discounted that there was once also a long island, or what could have been mistaken for one, off part of the Algarve and Andalucía, which housed the great Atlantis plain. In front of the Algarve, particularly, and stretching east in front of the Costa de la Luz as far as Huelva, there are many narrow tidal lagoons from 100 meters to around 400 meters wide, fronted by long strands of sand bearing some fauna. A few of these strands are connected to the mainland by narrow isthmuses, particularly at river mouths. The central Algarve, from the capital, Faro, for 30 kilometers or so east, also has substantial offshore sandbank islands farther out to sea beyond the lagoons.
    Some of these islands have shanty settlements inhabited by hardy fishermen, with the occasional café and bar to welcome the hordes of sun-worshipping tourists who are ferried across to the pristine sands in the summer months to enjoy their calming, away-from-it-all atmosphere. The sea in front of Faro is also a cobweb of mud shoals and narrow, treacherous channels, as anyone flying into Faro airport can see as the plane circles before making its final approach.
    These islands and sandspits may well have been much larger and more prevalent in 500 or 600 B.C. , when Greek mariners started venturing that far, during the period between the demise of the Phoenicians and the rise of the Carthaginians. There are several historical accounts by Portuguese and Spanish authors stating that there were once more islands than there are now.The area has been seriously affected by large earthquakes and tsunamis since Plato’s era, which must have resulted in significant changes to the coastline