No Canal Necessary: South America As A Separate Continent

[AirshipArmada]

From here:http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/puscience/

Sea level is about 20 cm higher on the Pacific side than the Atlantic due to the water being less dense on average on the Pacific side and due to the prevailing weather and ocean conditions. Such sea level differences are common across many short sections of land dividing ocean basins.

The 20 cm difference business is determined by geodetic levelling from one side to the other. A datum called Panama Canal Datum is used. When you use spirit levelling you follow a 'level' surface (to our perceptions, see 1) which will be parallel to the geoid (which is geometrically a 'lumpy' surface). The geoid is the surface of constant gravitational potential (plus a 'centrifugal potential' term) which on average coincides with the sea surface i.e. a 'level' surface in everyday language. The 20 cm difference at Panama is not unique. There are similar 'jumps' elsewhere e.g. Skagerrak, Indonesian straits.

If the canal was open sea and not locks (i.e. if somehow a deep open cutting had been made rather than the canal system over the mountains) then there WOULD be a current flowing from Pacific to Atlantic. An analogy (although not a perfect one because there are many other factors) is that you could compare Panama to the Drake Passage off the south tip of Chile which has a west-east flow (but mostly wind-driven of course, but Pacific-Atlantic density must play some role).

Locks are needed in the Panama Canal because the canal climbs over the hills and makes use of mountain lakes. Therefore, locks would be needed even if sea level was the same on the two sides. (So, for example, there are also locks on canals here in England which is much less mountainous than Panama).

Note also that the tides have opposite phase on the 2 sides of Panama, so, if there was a sea level canal, there would be major tidal currents through it.

 

[pacifichistorian]

OMG, there goes all the Caribbean islands (including Cuba) because of the rising sea levels! (not to mention that that coastline looks ASB - Buenos Aires would be underwater, as would the Falklands)

Florida too... And there'd be no Arctic ice. Parts of Saskatchewan might actually be habitable. Of course, it would be Field Hockey Night in Canada. (Just maybe, Lacrosse Night, but don't bet the house on it.)

 

[boredatwork]

How much different would the situation be if instead of transposing Panama to the OTL straights of magellan, we instead drop in straight down into the sea by a couple hundred feet - leaving three or four 5 - 20 mile wide open sea channels between the Pacific and Carribean?

That doesn't screw with the Antarctic flow, but it does open up the circulation between the pacific & atlantic (at least somewhat).

 

[fero]

The Strait of Gibraltar (Arabic: مضيق جبل طارق, Spanish: Estrecho de Gibraltar) is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq (meaning "Tariq's mountain"[1]), albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or "Gate of Charity". It is also known erroneously as the Straits of Gibraltar, or STROG (Strait Of Gibraltar), in naval use[2] and as "Pillars of Hercules" (Greek: Ηράκλειες Στήλες)[3] in the ancient world.
Europe and Africa are separated by 7.7 nmi (14.3 km; 8.9 mi) of ocean at the strait's narrowest point. The Strait's depth ranges between 300 and 900 m (980 and 3,000 ft)[4] which possibly interacted with the lower mean sea level of the last major glaciation 20,000 years before present[5] when the level of the sea was believed to be lower by 110–120 m (360–390 ft).[6] Ferries cross between the two continents every day in as little as 35 minutes. The Spanish side of the Strait is protected under El Estrecho Natural Park.

The Strait of Granada (Spanish: Estrecho de Granada) is a narrow strait that connects the Pacific Ocean to the Caribean Sea and split Colombia in 2, 30 colombian provinces in South America and 2 colombian provinces in North America . The name comes from name of the spanish colony in the north of South America.
North and South America are separated by 7.7 nmi (14.3 km; 8.9 mi) of ocean at the strait's narrowest point. The Strait's depth ranges between 300 and 900 m (980 and 3,000 ft) which possibly interacted with the lower mean sea level of the last major glaciation 20,000 years before present[5] when the level of the sea was believed to be lower by 110–120 m (360–390 ft).[6] Ferries cross between the two continents every day in as little as 35 minutes.

 

[Lord Grattan]

Please let sleeping threads lie.

 

[kent]

Could or would this change how the currents of the gulf stream flow?
Without the gulf stream would the East coast be more like the California
coast, that is warm and dry?

 

[corditeman]

A few thoughts...

Even if you have a really large channel (like the original map) the Gulf Stream should be much as is. The increase in flow eastwards might even enhance the Gulf Stream.

Getting from one continent to the other by raft or multihull canoe would be enhanced by the currents - at first, by pushing boats off-course, later by sailing with the currents in the Polynesian manner. And don't be so parochial - how did the native peoples of the Caribbean settle those islands? By boat, of course.

I would suggest that you let the camelids enter South America through a land bridge that is broken by differences in Continental Drift rates between North and South America.

And, yes, I consider anybody north of the Panama Canal/Estrecho de Granada a Norteamericano!