A "grid of streets" on the seabed at one of the proposed locations of the lost city of Atlantis has been spotted on Google Ocean.


The network of criss-cross lines is 620 miles off the coast of north west Africa near the Canary Islands on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
The perfect rectangle – which is around the size of Wales – was noticed on the search giant's underwater exploration tool by an aeronautical engineer who claims it looks like an "aerial map" of a city.

The underwater image can be found at the co-ordinates 31 15'15.53N 24 15'30.53W.
Last night Atlantis experts said that the unexplained grid is located at one of the possible sites of the legendary island, which was described by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
According to his account, the city sank beneath the ocean after its residents made a failed effort to conquer Athens around 9000 BC.
Dr Charles Orser, curator of historical archaeology at New York State University told The Sun that the find was fascinating and warranted further inspection.

"The site is one of the most prominent places for the proposed location of Atlantis, as described by Plato," the Atlantis expert said. "Even if it turns out to be geographical, it definitely deserves a closer look."

Bernie Bamford, 38, of Chester who spotted the "city", compared it to the plan of Milton Keynes, the Buckinghamshire town built on a grid design. "It must be man made," he said.
Google Ocean, an extension of Google Earth, allows web users to virtually explore the ocean with thousands of images of underwater landscapes.

Launched earlier this month, it lets users swim around underwater volcanoes, watch videos about exotic marine life, read about nearby shipwrecks, contribute photos and watch unseen footage of historic ocean expeditions.

The legend of Atlantis has excited the public imagination for centuries. In recent years "evidence" of the lost kingdom has been found off the coast of Cyprus and in southern Spain.
Plato described it as an island "larger than Libya and Asia put together" in front of the Pillars of Hercules - the Straits of Gibraltar. He said Atlantis was a land of fabulous wealth, advanced civilisation and natural beauty destroyed by earthquakes and floods 9,000 years earlier.

Claims that the mythological sunken city of Atlantis has been located on Google Earth have been dashed.

An aeronautical engineer contacted the Sun after he discovered a rectangular shape the size of Wales that seemed to resemble an ancient city's ruins.

620 miles off north-west Africa near the Canary Islands – visible on Google Earth at coordinates at 31 15'15.53N 24 15'30.53W – the site is a rough geographical match for the ruins of Atlantis as described by Plato.

But a Google Earth spokesperson told the Press Association that the shapes were created by boats using sonar to take measurements of the seafloor.

"It's true that many amazing discoveries have been made in Google Earth including a pristine forest in Mozambique that is home to previously unknown species and the remains of an ancient Roman villa," the representative said.

"In this case, however, what users are seeing is an artifact 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."

Dr Charles Orser, curator of historical archaeology at New York State University, had earlier told the Sun: "The site is one of the most prominent places for the proposed location of Atlantis, as described by Plato.

"Even if it turns out to be geographical, it definitely deserves a closer look."

The man who spotted 'Atlantis', 38-year-old Chester resident Bernie Bamford, had said: "It must be man made."

Google Earth, a virtual map that allows users to take advantage of satellite imagery and aerial photography to zoom into any area of the world, was recently expanded to include the planet's oceans.