>>This is when the maganetic and the physical polar caps are going to switch again. Last time it occured was 12,000 BC - the beginning of the last age. That caused the rapid decline of the Atlantis civilization, either because of the slide of the Earth's crust, or because a big meteor striking Earth.
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>Or because the inhabitants of Atlantis discovered atomic energy and misused it. At least, that's what a friend of mine, a Rosicrucian, claims. (I can imagine an ancient civilization making brilliant scientific discoveries which are later forgotten, especially if they destroy themselves. But it still seems somewhat doubtful to me that a massive use of atomic energy can actually sink a continent.)

Maybe the continent wasn't that much to start with, and maybe they managed to destabilize the geological house of cards on which they were sitting?