Lost city of Atlantis found on Google Earth ?

UK tabloid The Sun has an article claiming that someone found Atlantis using Google Earth. As someone who’s personally interested in ancient mysteries, paranormal phenomena, and cryptozoology, I’m really happy that a tabloid has this story because it totally gives credence to the idea that Atlantis does, indeed, exist and should definitely silence all the naysayers.

Surely I jest. The evidence is compelling, however; a grid of crisscrossing lines the size of Wales buried three and a half miles underwater is nothing to sneeze at. Remember, mother nature doesn’t make straight lines. Intelligent beings make straight lines. These lines are apparently 620 miles west of Morocco near the Canary Islands.

London's Sun tabloid proclaimed Friday morning that an aeronautical engineer from Chester in northwestern England had discovered the fabled lost city using the armchair geographer's favorite tool — Google Earth. A strange pattern in the ocean floor off the western coast of Africa looked a lot like an ancient city street grid, and the Sun even said it was in the location "seemingly suggested by the ancient philosopher Plato."

"Even if it turns out to be geographical, this definitely deserves a closer look," New York State Museum archaeologist Charles Orser told the Sun. But the jubilation was to be short-lived. Within hours, a Google spokeswoman told one of the Sun's rivals — it's not clear which one — that "what users are seeing is an artefact of the data-collection process."

According to a Google spokesperson, the lines are actually sonar artifacts from a boat gathering data for Google Earth’s new ocean feature:

“What users are seeing is an artefact 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.”

Here’s a link to the spot on Google Maps. Now if we could just get one of those Street View cars made into a submarine capable of going three and a half miles deep, we’d be in business.

Researchers have been trying to uncover the secrets of Atlantis for years and have contrasting views on where it actually lies. Could the search finally be over?