Welch, Richard W. (L)

Richard W. Welch is an American journalist and talk show host, who recently (August 2009) published Roots of Cataclysm: Geopulsation and the Atlantis Supervolcano^[630]. He explores the early occupation of the Americas and proposes that the first settlers came from Europe and that it was much later that Asiatic influences can be clearly identified.

He discusses the geology, geography and climatology and suggests that at the end of the last Ice Age a landbridge or chain of islands extended from the European mainland into the Atlantic, permitting easier access to America. He attributes the creation of this ancient route as a consequence of the lower Atlantic during the Ice Age.

Welch introduces the idea of rotational changes in the earth and the concept of ‘geopulsation’ and their effects on the creation of the Ice Ages and increasing the level of volcanism.

He identifies the Tore Seamount, which lies in the Atlantic between Portugal and the Azores, as the location of Atlantis. He claims that Tore is the remains of a supervolcano which exploded circa 1640 BC wiping out Atlantis. However, the Atlanteans left their influence over a wide area, including Sardinia, whose inhabitants were part of the confederation of Sea Peoples who caused such destruction in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 2^nd millennium BC.

Although I would take issue with many of Welch’s Atlantis ideas, I found that overall his book was thought-provoking in many other respects and would highly recommend his book.