COOKBOOK COSMOLOGY - PART II
An Engineering Approach to Tectonic Plate Suffling
by
Neil B. Christianson
© Copyright August 1999
We've accepted the hot-core theory on faith. Faith that scientists have it all worked out and with a few refinements their view of Earth's inner workings will become perfectly clear. Clearly, there is good reason to express faith in hot-core theory. Do not volcanoes pour forth prodigious amounts of lava -- a sure sign of inner heat? Yet, a few scientists openly express concern, because not all data supports the hot-core theory.
As for example, tectonic plates are thought to raft along on the mass flow of convective currents, but seismic S waves show the Earth to be a solid from mid-radius on up. Solids conduct heat molecule to molecule, fluids move heat by mass flow. A quick calculation of Earth's heat transfer shows that the amount of heat, thought to come from the core, could easily move to the surface molecule to molecule. In my earlier article, "Cookbook Cosmology: An Engineering Approach to Planetary Body Formation," we employed an engineering approach, using only observed phenomena, common laws of physics and well documented physical characteristics of the constituents available, to construct the Earth (July 1999). Therein we learned that Lord Rayleigh first introduced evidence that crustal igneous rock has enough radioactivity to answer the flow of heat said to come from the hot-core of the Earth. A shell of granite 22 km thick with average radioactivity would produce the entire surface heat flow. Thus, in the upper shells of a cold-core cross section shown in Figure I, there could easily be enough radioactive material to produce the measured heat flow, as well as drive recurring hot-cold heat pump cycles.
Figure I. Earth’s cold-core cross section.
Yet another disturbing fact bothers scientists -- shield volcanoes vent helium. This fact comes from ongoing gas samplings taken at Kilauea in Hawaii. In hot-core theory, this light gas should have been lost to space as the planet formed. Also, Mark D. Kurz1 reports finding extremely high helium-3 to helium-4 ratios in drill samples taken from Hawaii's Haleakala volcano. High helium-3 to helium-4 ratios in terrestrial samples were quickly interpreted as indicating the presence of primitive or primordial (Big Bang) gases. He reports ratios 37 times current atmospheric ratios and concludes that the source of this disparity must have come from outer space. But as you learned in my earlier article, his samples would have been belched up by the heat pump at work in Earth's cold-core.
All heat pump cycles work by compression and decompression. Under compression the refrigerant gives up heat; whereas, under decompression the refrigerant absorbs heat. Earth’s compressive stroke starts when dirty ice matrices try to expand in response to a rise in their temperatures. But, the strong stony shell holds the ice matrices in place. Their expansion squeezes the Earth's inner crystal and pressure goes up. To relieve pressure, the core's crystalline hydrogen collapses to its more compact metallic state. In doing so, it expels heat. Expelled heat moves along the helium (superfluid helium is a perfect conductor of heat) filled collapsing crystal lattice to a grain boundary, which aims a thin line of hot helium at the upper shells. This thin line of hot helium bores a hole through the ice matrices and the stony shells directly above the intersection of the collapsing crystal lattice and the crystal grain boundary. Heat thus escapes to space. However, some of these lines of he at do not break through to the surface. Instead they heat magma that bulges Earth's crust to become Hot Spots, which act like hot plates. Stony shells warm and plant and animal life move toward the poles. (Note: Night time temperatures on average have gone up over the last 100 years, because of the effect of these hot plates.) In time, the strong stony shell gives way to allow inner pressure to relax -- the ice matrices expand, pressure drops within, surface heating stops, and the Earth chills as the inner crystal absorbs heat to bring the upper shells back to their original or colder temperatures (Earth goes into an Ice Age). As stony bonds renew, in the latter part of chill down, the hot-cold cycle starts anew. During the complete pump cycle, more heat escapes to space than gets absorbed by the inner crystal. The net result nudges the inner crystal ever colder into a super cold metallic state.
Inner core warming and cooling periods are in reality contraction (surface cooling) and expansion (surface warming) periods. As confusing as it may sound, the expansion period on the surface of the Earth causes compression and cooling in the Earth's core. But, the decompressed state of the core causes warming of the core and a contraction period on the Earth's surface. Events associated with these two periods explain observed surface effects -- ocean-crust spreading, subduction zones and their deep trenches, mountain building, earthquakes, volcanoes and just how the continents dance across the face of the globe.
Alfred L. Wegener saw the separated continents as a torn page of newsprint and he looked for matching lines of print in the continental masses on both sides of the Atlantic2. By mapping the locations of like types of sedimentary rock, he convincingly showed that a single land mass, called Pangaea, split up into drifting continents to slid over the ocean crust.
Early in this century, Wegner's freewheeling continents gradually lost support among scientists, as data on the rate of ocean-crust spreading came to light. From these data, scientists reasoned that the continents did not slide to their current sites; instead, they moved there in painfully slow shuffling steps. Hence, earth scientists, in an effort to conform to the dictates of current theories, advanced the theory of convective currents to raft tectonic plates toward subduction zones.
Plate rafters view the Earth's rigid crust as broken into six or eight huge plates, with smaller plates filling the gaps between them. Some plates, such as the Pacific plate, consist entirely of ocean crust. Other plates are part ocean crust and part continental landmass. North America and the western half of the North Atlantic form a single plate from California to Iceland. Some rafters believe that plate edges -- say, along the ridge that bisects the Atlantic on a north-south line -- move apart by hot, molten rock rising in the boundary crack between the two plates. A branch of that rising molten rock floats the plate along on a convective current that, after cooling, moves back into the Earth somewhere under the leading edge of the advancing continent.
Two scientific disconnects haunt this picture -- seismic wave data and the return flow of convection. Seismic S waves pose a problem because they show the Earth to be a solid from mid-radius (Gutenberg Discontinuity) on up. Solids move heat molecule to molecule, fluids move heat by mass flow. Some scientists point to glaciers as an example of solids that flow. But, ice creeps, which means it flows unidirectionally from high stress to low stress. Hence, a rocky mass may creep toward the surface (from high stress in the core to low stress near the Earth's surface), but a cooled mass cannot creep from the surface toward the core (from low stress to high stress). As stated earlier, a quick calculation of Earth's alleged heat transfer shows that the amount of heat thought to come from the core, could easily move to the surface molecule to molecule. Further, the start-stop motion said to occur in plate rafting requires Earth’s hot-core to heat up periodically and then cool down again. Si nce the decay of radioactive elements is thought to be constant, the mechanism for this action goes unexplained. Hence, plate rafting remains a hotly debated theory.
An alternate scheme for tectonic movement, originated with W. Jason Morgan of Princeton3. He proposed that the initial split in the continental mass, Pangaea, came from deep seated upwellings of hot lava (Hot Spots) originating far down in the Earth. Upwellings lifted the crust into domes, each of which raised several kilometers high. Tensile strength of the domed continental mass gave way and separate continental masses moved down the east and west slopes of the dome's inclines. Morgan's scheme has merit -- Figure II.
Figure II. Shuffling steps of the continents.
Picture if you would the massive continent of Pangaea being lifted at its center by a mass of magma welling up and spreading out under the strong stony shell (similar to the way the Grand Canyon area appears to have elevated over a growing dome). Inclined planes form along the sides of the dome and a massive continent stands ready to rip into several pieces. Now, impose upon that picture the expansion period of a hot-cold cycle of the cold-core cross section. During expansion, the strong stony shell expands faster than the crust expands. The difference in their expansion rates comes from the crust's radiation of heat out to the vast heat sink of space. Thus, the crust stays cooler, so it rips open. Lava from the Moho fills the openings and solidifies. The rip heals, a ridge is born, and stability returns temporarily.
In time, the expansion period runs its course. The strong stony shell gives way, the ice matrices expand, pressure drops within the Earth and the inner crystal absorbs heat to bring the upper shells back to their original or colder temperatures. The core warms as the shells below the crust cool and contract. But the crust on average maintains a fairly stable temperature, so when the shells below contract; lava plugs, which had been inserted into rips in the ocean crust, prevent the crust from contracting. These lava plugs cause compressive loading. As time goes on, the crust's gross weight overloads the columnar strength of the outer edges of the submerged tectonic sheet. These outer edges fracture to form leading edges of continental slabs. It is common knowledge that compressive fractures typically show 45 degree slopes. Thus, it is no surprise that telltale 45 degree slopes show up in seismic wave traces taken along continental leading edges.
In the cold-core cross section, expansive growth of crust and subsequent contractive compression, push individual continents over encroached ocean crust -- Figure III. They move much like a toboggan moves over snow. Their 45 degree leading edges create subduction zones having three distinct characteristics -- andesite volcanoes, gravity anomalies and trenches.
Figure III. Characteristics of continental leading edges.
Andesite volcanoes confine their activity to a narrow strip 100 to 200 km inland from the leading edge of the advancing continent. A sheared-free continent moves only a short way to where it comes to rest with its leading edge jammed tightly against the overridden ocean crust. But, stopping continental movement exerts a compressive force into the strong stony shell directly below the encroached ocean crust. A rupture in the strong stony shell occurs in the tensionally stressed part of the subducted ocean crust -- 100 to 200 km back from the continent's leading edge. Next time you're out with a toboggan, or pulling a canoe across mud flats, lift it up and locate the tensile rupture that occurs back from its leading edge. Magma from the weak stony shell oozes in to repair the rupture. Some of this lava hardens at temperatures 300 to 400 Kelvin higher than the materials of the subducted ocean crust and continental land mass. The overidden ocean crust and continental mass melt and sec ondary (andesite) volcanoes erupt.
Before going further with andesite volcanoes, let's look at the other characteristics previously mentioned. Near the leading edge of the continent, gravity fluctuations display a pattern similar to those of the ocean ridges, although shifted to one side. This gravity increase comes from a density change within caused by the welling up of heavy repair lava to mend strong stony shell ruptures. However, trenches will not appear until the expansion period returns. Then, they open gradually to widths they now exhibit. The dearth of sedimentary deposits in most trenches bear witness to their brief existence.
Lava from andesite volcanoes differs from ridge lava, which is primarily basalt. It is secondary lava that comes from remelted continental crust and overridden sedimentary deposits, along with part of the overridden ocean crust. Secondary lava builds island arcs, such as those of the Aleutians, Japan, and the Philippines; or volcanic mountain systems, such as the Andes of South America, and the Cascades of Washington State. Secondary lava contains more silicon, potassium, sodium and calcium; and less magnesium and iron than ridge lava.
Now, active volcanoes are not unique solely to the Earth. Space probes reveal the existence of active volcanoes on other planetary bodies, not just by their old surface features, but from actual photographs of a volcano erupting on Io, a small moon of Jupiter. Unfortunately, Io is sulfur rich and its atmosphere would be incompatible for us. But this is only one planet. Close by lie the Moon and Mars, whose subsurface elements may more favorably match those of Earth. When liberated from their host rocks, these trapped elements could bring those planets gradually up to a geochemical carbon cycle that resembles the one here on Earth. Here on Earth, volcanism sustains a process that is essential for the survival of light dependent life. It frees trapped carbon dioxide.
The Earth's natural geochemical carbon cycle (excluding man's unnatural burning of fossil fuels) ultimately depends on volcanism to keep the atmospheric carbon dioxide level high enough to support life -- Figure IV. On Earth, carbon gets trapped in insoluble compounds in sedimentary rock. Hot Spots eventually lift this sedimentary rock above sea level to form new continents to shuffle step their way across ocean crust. Subsequently, trapped carbon dioxide gets liberated from these new continents by weathering, heat soaking or melting. Robert A. Bernier and Antonio C. Lasaga4 of Yale describe the storage of carbon as occurring in two types of compounds: kerogen and carbonates. Kerogen (also known as sedimentary organic matter) accumulates from the soft tissue remains of plants and animals, whereas carbonate rock accumulates from the skeletal debris of marine organisms. Shales house kerogen, while limestone and dolomite house carbonates. Coal, which als o is derived from the soft tissues of plants and animals, makes up only a small part of the overall carbon trapped in Earth's crust.
Figure IV. Earth’s geochemical cycles.
In the course of chemical weathering, soil gases and various acids chemically break down rock. Once ground water acid breaks down kerogen-bearing rock to expose kerogen to the atmosphere, kerogen merely reacts with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, which then escapes into the atmosphere. Limestone and dolemite weather in a more complicated manner. Acids, such as carbonic acid, form in the waters of the soil as carbon dioxide percolates through decomposing organic matter -- the biological carbon cycle -- photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide into organic matter, whose subsequent death provides the primary source of carbonic acid. Carbonic acid reacts with sedimentary rock to dissolve its magnesium or calcium (mineral) carbonates. (Note how weathering equates with and falls closely akin to the digestive process in living organisms).
In the digestive process afforded by carbonic acid, one carbonate ion is released by the mineral carbonate and one is released by the carbonic acid. Once released, ions flow with ground water to nearby streams, then to rivers and finally to oceans where marine organisms take up the freed ions to construct mineral carbonate skeletons. When these organisms die, their skeletons fall to the ocean crust. Layer upon layer of the tiny skeletons build up as sediment. These buried skeletons account for about 80 percent of the carbon deposited on the ocean crust. Dead organic matter, which is deposited as kerogen, accounts for the other 20 percent.
Since organisms use only half of the freed carbonate ions to build their mineral carbonate skeletons, the other half transforms directly into carbon dioxide and water. So, the carbon dioxide that came from the atmosphere to make carbonic acid gets returned to the atmosphere. Thus, in the overall, there is no net loss to the atmosphere.
Silicate weathering takes a different path. Silicate minerals, such as common feldspar, found in basalts and granites also release bicarbonate ions under the digestive effects of carbonic acid. Since silicates lack carbon atoms, all the carbon in the final bicarbonate ions comes from carbonic acid. Once the ions reach the ocean, organisms combine mineral and bicarbonate ions to produce a mineral carbonate for their skeletons, again releasing one carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. So, only half of the original atmospheric carbon dioxide that took part in the overall process gets returned to the atmosphere. Silicate weathering, thus, returns a net loss in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Bernier and Lasaga estimate that were this loss to go unchecked for a period of about 10,000 years (or about 300,000 years if gas exchange with the oceans continued), silicate weathering would totally deplete the atmosphere of carbon dioxide. Obviously, some process must be restoring trapped carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. They reason that volcanoes drive the carbon dioxide restoring process.
When buried in the Earth to depths of several hundred meters, calcium or magnesium carbonates encounter temperatures high enough to initiate thermal reactions with adjacent minerals. These reactions release carbon dioxide, which eventually finds its way to the atmosphere -- at times dramatically in the course of a volcanic eruption. Thus, volcanic outgassing closes the geochemical carbon cycle by returning trapped carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
The dynamics of outgassing and the geochemical carbon cycle can best be understood in terms of Hot Spots elevating landmasses that rip apart to form continent bearing plates. Subsequently, andesite volcanoes, which are associated with advancing continents, recycle trapped carbon dioxide to keep our planet's atmosphere healthy.
Just as an aside, volcanism may also harbor a geochemical oxygen cycle. Gary P. Landis, when he worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, and his colleagues proposed that the dinosaurs died 65 million years ago because of a drop in the atmosphere's oxygen level5. They arrive at their highly controversial conclusion based on analyses of gas bubbles found in amber, a fossilized form of tree resin. Amber bubbles show a sharp drop in the atmosphere's oxygen content at the end of the Cretaceous period, from a high of 35 percent down to 29 percent. They speculate that the oxygen decline, which was caused by a decline in volcanic activity and lowering sea levels, killed the dinosaurs because their lung capacity could not adjust to the reduced oxygen level.
Normally, volcanic eruptions propel water vapor as high as 40 km up into the stratosphere or ozonosphere, which extends from 25 km to 40 km above sea level. It is possible that under the influence of solar radiation the water molecule photodissociates to allow an oxygen molecule to strip the oxygen atom from the hydrogen molecule, thus, forming ozone. The lighter hydrogen floats up through the stratosphere to find its way to the highest atmospheric level where it escapes from Earthly confines. But the ozone molecule is comparatively heavy. It sinks in the atmosphere back toward the troposphere. As it sinks it joins another ozone molecule to split into three oxygen molecules, such that in the end, only molecular oxygen enters the troposphere. Returning oxygen replenishes the oxygen lost to chemical processes that trap atmospheric oxygen. But the replenishment process grinds to a halt in the early stages of the contraction period or "age" as the ancients called it. Then, volcanism ab ruptly stops following an untimely catastrophic expansion. A volcanic-eruption-free interval exists between the start of the contraction age and the closing of ocean trenches, which then reinitiates andesite volcanism. During that interval the Earth's atmosphere looses oxygen.
Unwittingly, in Biospheres II, which is located in Oracle Arizona, its designers duplicated an eruption free environment -- Figure V. As a result, replenishment oxygen had to be pumped into that facility to prevent the physical debilitation of its occupants. The designers believe they have solved their problem by painting all concrete surfaces (curing concrete does absorb oxygen). However, I anxiously await the outcome of a future two-year test period. Should the problem recur, then water electrolyzing devices need to be installed in future biosphere facilities to mimic the volcanic production of replenishment oxygen. It is interesting that while sealed in Biospheres II Linda Leigh, director of terrestrial ecosystems, reportedly had recurring nightmares about volcanoes. One wonders if her unconscious mind was trying to tell her something.
Figure V. Biosphere II: A test-tube Earth that contains seven biomes -- a tropical rain forest, savannah, marsh, ocean, desert, intensive agriculture and human habitat.
As has been reported by Burke and Wilson6, volcanism (shield volcanoes) not associated with the advancing continents, accounts for only a small portion of the world's volcanic activity (probably much less than 1 percent). These isolated volcanoes erupt in the middle of continental crust, peaceful ocean basins, and even along spreading ridge lines. Some erupt far from active earthquake areas. A shield volcano, such as Kilimanjaro, may be the only disruption in an otherwise flat plain.
Almost all shield volcanoes erupt in regions of crustal uplift. Their large quantity of lava outpourings differ in scale from the relatively small amount involved in andesite mountain building or island arc growth. Unlike the basaltic lava of ocean ridges, lava from shield volcanoes contains more alkali metals (potassium, sodium, lithium and so on). They are also known to vent helium and iridium-tainted dust. Alkali-rich lava rarely figures in eruptions along continental leading edges, and those that do are hard to spot, because they look like andesite volcanoes. They dress in drag so to speak. Morgan, Burke and Wilson reason that a Hot Spot's source of heat lies deep in the Earth. They contend that Hot Spots may be manifestations of "plumes," rising columnar currents of hot material that form elevated domes with diameters ranging from 200 to 2000 kms. Some islands that lie on mid-ocean ridges or close to them come directly from Hot Spots. Among these are Tristan da Cunha, the Azor es and Iceland. They deserve to be included because they seem more characteristic of Hot Spots than of lava flows along mid-ocean ridges. The volume of the material ejected by these Hot Spots greatly exceeds the norm for mid-ocean ridge activity. Consequently, they build islands while the rest of the ridge crest remains submerged. By far the more important feature, they produce lava of alkali-rich basalt -- rare along ridges but typical of Hot Spots.
Perhaps the most prominent and easily recognized Hot Spot built the Hawaiian Island chain. This chain formed from a single source of lava over which the Pacific plate is theorized to have passed on a course setting roughly toward the north-west. The plate's motion carried off a trail of inactive volcanoes of increasing age, in much the same way as wind carries off puffs of smoke from a movie Indian's signal fire.
A survey of the world's Hot Spots suggests that at least 122 actively erupted in the past 10 million years. Of those surveyed, 53 spout through ocean crust and 69 grace continental plains. Fifteen ocean crust Hot Spots lie on the crest of ridges and nine others lie near crests. Africa hosts the greatest number, 25 on land, eight at sea, and ten more on, or near, adjacent ocean ridges. Africa's features of basins and swells, recently uplifted highlands, and the Great Escarpment testify to extensive Hot Spot doming below that continent. Dated rock sequences imply that Africa, as a part of Pangaea, stood still and produced a number of shield volcanoes. Later, when the massive landmass fractured along the present line of the Mid-Atlantic ridge, Africa moved east. Its continued motion stopped Hot Spot volcanism for the next 90 million years.
It is worth noting that Africa and Asia host a large number of active Hot Spots, while the relatively fast moving Americas have only a few. Current theories fail to offer a mechanism to answer this phenomena, but the cold-core cross section offers the following reason. The reason behind this phenomena rests in the use made of Hot Spot lava. Fast movers cover Hot Spots with a cold surface every so often, so they seldom get the opportunity to burn a hole through the crust. Instead, their lava spreads out, to create a broad area of heat. Like a hot plate this heat boils up materials of low melting temperatures from the strong stony shell and melts old subducted ocean crust along with its entrapped sediments. Thus, lava of intermediate temperature forms the Moho (A good portion of weak stony shell lava is high temperature, Moho lava is intermediate temperature and andesitic lava is low temperature). Much like grease, Moho lava keeps the tectonic plates ready to accommodate inner Earth' s expansion, contraction or its change in shape.
The cold-core cross section’s expansion and contraction ages sound very placid and would be if it were not for the dying gasps of both ages. During its last few years, right before the closing of the age (expansion period), Hot Spot volcanoes become increasingly active as pressure builds within the Earth. Most of the heat coming from the core's cooling crystal escapes to space, but a portion adds to the heat being released in the decay of radioactive elements in the stony shells. The temperature gradient across stone and ice shells gradually rises. But, stony shells do not expand at the same rate as the ice matrices would expand. So, pressure increases in the ice matrices and tension builds in the strong stony shell. This situation cannot last indefinitely, because increasing temperature weakens tensile strength. No material is perfectly elastic; at some point it reaches its elastic limit and permanently deforms. For the type of material thought to be in the strong stony shell, def ormation should mirror that of steel. Steel simply yields elastically at its weakest point. On the other hand, crustal material mirrors that of cast-iron. It abruptly snaps on failure. Tithonius chasm in the crust of Mars may have snapped open as its strong stony shell elastically yielded to start a surface cooling age.
Recently, Science News carried an article, "Waves of Death," which analyzed the tsunami that devastated the north shore of Papua, New Guinea. It appears the water first receded from the shore; going out as if the tide were running in that direction. Then, the flow reversed and a tidal wave overwhelmed the low-lying coastal region. Scientists speculate that the cause of the tidal wave was an underwater landslide, but they point out tidal recession does not match their theory. Now, in terms of the cold-core cross section the Earth is currently in its expansion mode and rapid crustal adjustments must occur to accommodate expansion of the strong stony shell. An expansive rupture of the ocean crust, say at the base of an off shore ledge, would leave a void that would have to be filled with ocean water. Water being what it is flows toward the void and, because of its inflowing momentum, overfills directly over the void point. A peak of water results and this peak must then flow out away from the void. The result produces oscillating tidal waves toward and away from the void. These continue until they finally dampen out and the sea returns to normal.
Tensile failure of the strong stony shell promises mass destruction for the works of man. Rapid expansion abruptly snaps open ocean ridges, drops ocean levels, but raises tidal waves hundreds of meters high that play havoc many kilometers inland. It shakes the continental surface with such a force that most transportation systems cease to be of use. All is laid waste as food and fuel distribution comes to a stand still. When it occurs, it will be much like living through a hurricane, but this time without an outside agency to rush in with relief supplies. Only those, who prepare mentally and materially, will survive the first few years after the strong stony shell’s tensile failure.
Expansion, from tensile failure, also widens ocean trenches and brings a sharp drop in pressure deep within the Earth to halt the inner crystal's phase change from face centered cubic hydrogen to metallic hydrogen. The crystal then absorbs heat from the ice matrices, which draw heat from the stony shells above. To add to the rapid cool down, lava-filled rips boil up clouds of steam destined to fall as snow in polar regions. The whitened landscape then reflects the Sun’s radiation into space. As glaciation sets in, vegetation freezes and dies. Tinder dry forests and grassy plains, along with lakes of crude oil, which were freed during rapid expansion, burn unchecked to fill the atmosphere with a choking smoke.
The denuded land swirls into giant dust clouds to block the Sun's warming light. As the chill down moves along, Earth's inner supporting shells slowly contract to leave the crust in a compressively loaded state. In time, trenches close and advancing continents plow up ocean crust. New tensile ruptures then occur in the strong stony shell 100 to 200 kilometers back from the leading edge of the advancing continents. Lava from the weak stony shell fills the tensile ruptures and andesite volcanoes begin again their carbon dioxide and oxygen cycles. In some plain locations, such as the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, compressive faulting raises a new line of ridges. In the oceans, false continents appear from below the waters. False in the sense that they are bowed up ocean crust and when contraction stops and expansion begins again, they will in time disappear under the waters -- as did the fabled lands of Mu and Atlantis. Lands the seers say will return.
The Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and outer banks stand well above sea level, during the later part of a contraction period and early part of an expansion period. The Mid-Atlantic ridge, which is filled with solid lava, cannot retreat. Jammed closed are the trenches along the coasts of Central America and South America. Ever deepening glacial depths weight the northern and southern polar regions forcing Moho lava, like toothpaste in a closed tube, to creep from those regions toward the equator. The ocean crust, which is the thinnest part of the tectonic plate, bows above sea level to create the warm continents of Atlantis and Mu. These false continents serve as bridges between the Old and New Worlds. As glaciation subsides, in the mid-part of an expansion age, the Moho lava shifts again toward the poles and the false continents slowly return to the sea. Ocean currents then carry off whatever thin top soil may have covered their basaltic surfaces. But these gradual land mass changes are not all bad because they expose new, dry land (Zions) for surviving high plains plant and animal life. High plains, such as the Great Basin, the Andian plateau and Mongolia.
I worked for several years in Ogden Utah, which is in the Great Basin area, where I heard of folk lore among the Mormon that they would one day walk back to Zion in the same manner that they had walked into the valley of the Great Salt Lake. They came to the valley with wagons and hand carts. Since their Zion has always been considered to be in the south-eastern United States, they may well be forced to walk in that direction after the changing of the age.
The cold-core cross section accounts for another natural disaster that occurs near the end of the contraction age when Earth goes through a shape alteration in a process akin to, "magnetostriction." We know ferromagnetic crystals lengthen or shorten their individual dimensions in the direction of a prevailing magnetic field in a process called magnetostriction. Imagine a small sphere of a ferro-period element in an imposed magnetic field. It is in a demagnetized state, which has been brought on by heating it to a temperature above its Curie point -- the temperature at which it loses all magnetic capabilities. The sphere cools and when it reaches its Curie point, it sets its magnetic-dipoles in the direction of the imposed magnetic field. Depending on the material, its diagonal slightly increases or decreases along the line of an imposed magnetic field. It goes from a meatball to a sausage, or to a meat patty, with a main axis and two equal axes -- Figure VI.
Figure VI. Elongation of a spherical domain with positive magnetostriction.
Since hydrogen's molecular form has the semblance of an n=2 shell, it is believed to be comparable to a ferro-period element. I believe it, like nickel, contracts its magnetic-dipole length in the direction of an imposed magnetic field. The cold-core cross section’s magnetic field comes from either metallic hydrogen or helium-3 cooling below its Curie point.
Although it remains to be demonstrated, reason dictates that Earth's solid hydrogen core experiences magnetostriction in each molecule with respect to the direction of an imposed magnetic field. Although dimensional change in an individual molecule would be almost negligible, the outcome of the combined magnetostriction of all hydrogen molecules would be noticeable in a crystal 6,971.4 km across. An oblate spheroid would form, which just happens to be the shape of the Earth.
A warming of the core causes the loss of the Earth's magnetic field, which, in turn, causes individual hydrogen molecules within the crystal to return to a spherical shape. In other words, the crystal loses its magnetostriction and loses its oblateness. However, when the magnetic field returns, its oblateness comes back.
Now, on the surface of the Earth, an oblateness pulse decreases the diameter of the equator and increases the distance between the north and south polar regions. When the Earth starts its next polarity reversal or excursion, its equatorial inhabitants can expect forty days of rain after all the fountains burst forth from the great deep (Genesis 7:17). To Semites, who lived in present day Iraq, the great deep was the Indian Ocean -- the direction from which the flood would have approached them.
What causes the well documented reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field? The answer -- the contraction or core warming age of the hot-cold cycle. As the inner crystal warms by drawing heat from the ice matrices; magnetic helium trapped in the core also warms. At a temperature somewhere above .0027 Kelvin (the temperature below which helium-3 becomes a magnetic superfluid) helium-3 shuts down its magnetic superfluid capability. The inner magnet shuts off and its magnetic field collapses. Without a magnetic field to support magnetostriction, the inner crystal takes on a spherical shape. The rest of the Earth follows, and an ensuing flood marks the end of a contraction age. The new expansion age's magnetic field may then orient itself in the opposite direction.
Although it remains to be demonstrated, some scientists speculate that metallic hydrogen, like helium-3, also has its Curie temperature at which it becomes magnetic. A temperature somewhere below .0021 Kelvin8. Thus, it is possible that as it warms it loses its magnetostriction and changes shape. Its Curie temperature has yet to be observed, or may not even exist, but even if it does not exist, solid hydrogen has a unique characteristic to ease an oblateness change wrought by the loss of a magnetic field. Even though a hydrogen molecule occupies a permanent site in the crystal's lattice, it remains free to rotate. That freedom gives the crystal a quasi-fluid quality that shows up in the absence of S waves in Earth's outer core. Its ability to rotate allows a crystalline hydrogen molecule to make a magnetostriction type change even though it itself may remain unmagnetized.
In the long run, oblateness pulses, like catastrophic rapid expansions, occur at frequent intervals9. For one to have been witnessed by man (the deluge), it must have occurred within the last 50,000 years. Hence, only infrequently do magnetic reversals mark their occurrence.
Nowhere does evidence of previous catastrophic, tectonic movements present a more varied picture than in the State of Alaska10. Alaska consists of as many as fifty separate rock masses, many of which came from distant locations. In fact, the only piece of Alaska considered to be a native part of North America is a small strip near the Canadian border, north of the Yukon river. David B. Stone of the University of Alaska calls Alaska a tectonic "garbage heap." Stone voices the opinion that about 200 million years ago a large land mass in the Pacific elevated as a bulge developed beneath it. Around 120 and 80 million years ago, that land mass ripped into three slabs that were moving away from each other. But, the spreading slabs then reversed their direction and reorganized. All the future pieces of Alaska consolidated into one plate that moved north to its present home. At the same time northern Alaska broke away from North America and swung south out o f the Arctic. However, the presence of coal deposits as well as dinosaur footprints and their remains suggest that this piece originally came from a more southern climate; or, the Earth’s warming period lasted for an extended period of time. About 80 million years ago, most of Alaska's southern peninsula came together while still far south of its present location and only within the last 40 million years has everything come together. Some pieces such as the actively growing andesite volcanoes of the Aleutian islands are still moving toward Alaska.
Alaska is the most complete example of a relatively new concept; tectonostratigraphic terranes, which means a merging together of structurally and tectonically distinct rock masses. Determining the actual age of rock masses, originating from deep ocean deposits, became essential for gaining an understanding of the earlier events leading to the creation of Alaska's mountain belts. But, until recently the fossil record, which was used to date rock samples, was less complete. Basically, a seamed section of a sedimentary rock gives insight into its evolutionary time frame, but researchers began to notice that certain rock types and their entrapped fossils were completely out of place -- out of place in the time oriented stratigraphic column. Where they belonged remained a mystery. A breakthrough came when scientists developed the ability to strip the host rock from individual skeletal remains of radiolarians and conodonts.
Radiolarians are single-cell organisms that appeared in the oceans as early as the Cambrian period, some 500 to 600 million years ago. Over the years, the pattern of their silica skeletons gradually changed giving each epoch a distinct, dateable pattern. They live in the upper portion of the oceans, but when they die their skeletons drop to the ocean crust to form a radiolarian ooze. The rock formed from this ooze, flinty chert, became the raw material for arrowheads, knives and other tools used by early man. But, modern man discovered a way to dissolve the rock in strong acid to release individual skeletons. Once freed the skeletons became a tool for age dating thousands of chert assemblages.
Another type of microscopic fossil, the conodont, has also been freed by dissolving its host rock with strong acid. Their mutated skeletal remains appear to be the feeding apparatus of an extinct group of worm-like animals that lived from 570 to 200 million years ago. The gradual sequence of their mutations has now been matched to known fossil assemblages to fill gaps in the stratigraphic column.
In addition to the dating method above, composition analysis can give an idea of where the rock's formation took place, infrequently radioactivity can show its time of formation and, in some samples, matching magnetic field patterns can locate its latitude at the time of its formation. Thus, by means of radiolarian, conodont and other identification methods many of the rocks, whose exact ages were not known a few years ago, have now been dated, sometimes with surprising results. Sequences of older rock have been found laying on younger ones where great piles of strata seem to have been over-thrusted or folded. In some extreme cases the restacked surfaces lie parallel to the strata and the rocks show no sign of repositioning.
Using all methods at hand, researchers surmise that a long narrow block, which they called Wrangellia after the Wrangell Mountains, forms a distinct terrane that about 200 million years ago lay within 15 degrees of the equator. Given its position of 50 to 60 degrees latitude in southern Alaska and northern British Columbia, the block may have traveled as much as 9,000 km before running aground on North America.
In their efforts to piece together the North Pacific's tectonic histories, researchers point to 50 major terranes, ranging in size from 2 to several hundred kilometers square. The boundary of each presents major faults along which terranes move. Blocks are geologically quite different, some formed from ocean crust while others clearly came from off the edges of some unknown continents. One appears to have come from as far away as China, while yet another was born off the Oregon coast.
Geologists find terranes to be the rule rather than the exception. Siberia, parts of Florida, even parts of Nevada and other inland areas now appear to have been bits of oceanic crust or other continents. Central America may be made up of four such foreign blocks or terranes; California's tortured coast, as well as that of New England, probably formed by the addition of dissimilar rock masses.
Terranes are fast becoming a part of tectonic theory as the patterns and processes of continental growth come to light. Overall, continents grow dynamically. Volcanoes contribute .75 to 1.5 cubic kilometers per year, and Hot Spots contribute 0.2 cubic kilometers per year3. Meanwhile, owing to erosion, the continents lose as much as 4 cubic kilometers each year, As much as three-fourths of this loss recycles when sediments lift, fold, metamorphose and sometimes melt, in collision and eruptive cycles that raise mountains along continental leading edges. The averaging of billions of years of geologic history probably masks the ongoing hot-cold cycle that produces continental growth.
In the aftermath of the breakup of Pangaea 70 million years ago, the circum-Pacific continental crust is known to have grown at a rate of as much as 2.5 cubic kilometers per year. But, this rate of growth exceeds the rate we are currently experiencing. Thus, continent building periods seem to require alternate periods of calm. Matching these events with the activities expected from the traditional hot-core model requires the core to periodically produce bursts of heat, which in turn would impart a higher speed to convective currents that are said to move the tectonic plates. Since radioactive decay is thought to be constant, how high speed convective currents can occur under the conditions envisioned for the production of heat defies definition. But, when matched to the hot-cold cycles of the cold-core cross section, these events fall right in place.
Now, the cold-core cross section also tracks well with the events of human history. Around nine thousand years ago the Earth began to come out of an Ice Age. However, before its shield volcanoes began to flow, the heat expelled from crystal grain boundaries had a profound impact on Pagan beliefs. A general expulsion of heat flows from the full length of the crystal's grain boundaries as it rids itself of the heat it absorbed during its surface cooling age. Directly above a grain boundary, the Earth's surface would then have been slightly warmer than adjacent areas that are a few degrees away from a crystal edge. For example, the rip of ocean-crust spreading aligns to the lay of the crystals magnetic poles, which indicates heat weakening of crust directly above crystal grain boundaries. During the stone and bronze ages, which were the early part of the current expansion period, the expulsion of absorbed heat along the grain boundaries of the crystal formed intermittent, long strips of free land between fingers of ice. Today, the heating effect along crystal grain boundaries has been replaced by widespread Hot Spot heating. Thus, temperature differences above a crystal grain boundary are gone. However, in ancient times their presence was a boon to food gatherers and herdsmen, who lived above the Tropic of Cancer.
In 1921 Alfred Watkins11 discovered a network of straight lines that join sacred megalithic sites of Europe. He called these lines "Ley" lines. The most recognizable one aligns to magnetic north, not to the pole of rotation, to which we align things today. Bronze age man marked these lines with stone monoliths high enough to rise above the snows. These slivers of stone marked the line of spring thaw, or where game or open graze could be found. The paths of inner Earth's heat, thus, took on a religious significance for early peoples, as did the point where longitude and latitude grain boundaries cross. Also, there probably are waves, which we have yet to find, emanating from crystal grain boundaries. These waves even today are thought by many to enhance telepathic, prophetic or deific communication. Real or imagined, these waves form the basis for occult beliefs in the existence of an inner Earth force.
The concept of an inner Earth force was very important to the ancient Chinese. They believed it moved in channels in the ground, which they called LUNG MEI, 'paths of the dragon'. As a result of their belief, it was vital to place sacred buildings where a proper balance of forces could be achieved. Thus, every building team included an experienced geomancer, one versed in the art of FENG SHUI (literally, 'wind and water'). The geomantic arts are still practiced throughout the world. Today's practitioners may be using a latter day refinement of the ancient hot line traces, which were originally set by heat boiled up from crystal grain boundaries.
Now, isn't it interesting how the smattering of folk lore, biblical passages and unexplained mysteries that we have used, track with the hot-cold cycle of the cold-core cross section? I am confident that a biblical scholar, a history aficionado or folk lore buff will be able to ferret out other events that match the cyclic changes wrought by the expulsion and absorbtion of heat by the crystal deep within the Earth.
It can truly be said, crystal grain boundaries mete out the fate of each tectonic plate. Hot Spot domes set the line of their breakup, but erratic lines of subduction follow the paths of least resistance met by advancing continents. During a hot-cold cycle, the expansion age slowly pulls affixed ocean crust apart along a line originally set by heating above a crystal grain boundary and Hot Spot domes. On the other hand, the contraction age gently closes trenches and pushes continental slabs over overriden ocean crust, and in some cases, such as Africa, pushes them up over old ocean ridges to stop further movement. Such a stalled continent lacks a trench.
The western boundary of the North American plate currently lacks a trench, a sign that at least part of the plate has been high centered. We are certain the continent broke from Europe at the Mid-Atlantic ridge, so why doesn't it have a trench, like South America. Symmetry suggests that one be there to match the pattern of trenches along the southern Americas. But, it is missing. The answer -- the North American continent shuffle stepped over a now inactive ridge. The western side of the United States is stalled. It cantilevers atop a leg of the East Pacific Rise, which lies almost due north under the Mexican state of Sonora and the American states of Arizona and Nevada -- Figure VII. An abnormally wide transform fault follows the northern California border out to sea to join up with a new rise. This new rise, which now appears to include a shield volcano, then skirts the coast line to disappear in the direction of the north magnetic pole at the northern British Columbia border. To day, Hot Spots form a crescent north to Wyoming and Montana turning west through Idaho and Washington. In addition, 2,500 meters of the stratigraphic column have been exposed to view in the Grand Canyon, Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon by the uplifting action of deep Hot Spot domes and subsequent erosion. Alternately, a goodly portion of the above mentioned uplifting may have been caused as the continent rode up over the East Pacific Rise's ridge.
Figure VII. Northern leg of the East Pacific Rise.
Eventually, as the domes under the North American continent build, the western portion of the United States will rip apart and, with the help of succeeding ages, shuffle step away from the north-south line of the domes. Needless to say, if the breakup were to occur reasonably soon, it would be devastating to the nation and the world at large, but at this moment what is most unsettling is the under ground nuclear test site at Yucca Flats, Nevada. The United States currently is not testing nuclear weapons, but this is subject to change if the world’s balance of power shifts. Underground nuclear testing may well be analogous to a small child banging his toy mallet on your prized marble table. The first 99 blows show no visible damage, but the hundredth blow breaks an edge off of your prized table.
Equally as disturbing is the recent decision to bury radioactive waste in the western states. This type of waste should be buried deep in Precambrian shield, not subject to tectonic breakup. Or, dropped into an active ocean trench like the one off the Aleutian Islands. There, to be harmlessly recycled during the next contraction age.
I wish it were possible for me to tell you that rapid expansion from tensile failure of the strong stony shell lurks far down the road. But, this is not the case. In the past centuries life has moved ever closer to the poles. Increasingly, shield volcanoes belch forth lava, while their and other Hot Spots heat the strong and weak stony shells, which, in turn, heat the pressure building ice matrices. Daily, expansive earthquakes shake the crust as the strong stony shell strains to hold the warming ice matrices in check. I believe the waning tensile strength of the strong stony shell must in time give way to close the current age.
Ancient astrologers held that the catastrophic changes of the ages occur on a cycle set by the rotation of the zodiac. So, the coming Age of Aquarius was to see great destruction followed by a thousand years of peace. Geological evidence shows no real correlation to galactic rotation. It only indicates these events follow each other in set patterns, but with no numerically consistent interval. Each cycle moves at its own pace as the marble of fate between the Yin (the cold female principle of the universe) and Yang (the hot male principle of the universe) nears its zenith from whence it must tumble to begin a New Age -- Figure VIII.
Figure VIII. The yin and yang of the hot-cold cycle.
References and further reading:
1. Kurz, M., April 3, 1986. "Cosmogenic helium in a terrestrial igneous rock," Nature, Vol. 320, London, Pages 435-439.
2. Hallam, A. 1975. "A Revolution in the Earth Sciences," Clarendon Press, Oxford, Page 7-21.
3. Richards, M., R. Duncan, and V. Courtillot, Oct. 6, 1989. "Flood Basalts and Hot-Spot Tracks: Plume Heads and Tails," Science, Vol. 246. Wash., DC., Reports 103-107.
4. Bernier, R. & A. Lasaga, March 1989. "Modeling the Geochemical Carbon Cycle," Sci Am, New York, Pages 74-81.
5. Monastersky, R., November 6, 1993. "Oxygen-extinction theory draws counterfire," Science News, Washington, DC. Vol 144, Page 294.
6. Burke, K. and J. Wilson, August 1976. "Hot Spots on the Earth's Surface," Sci Am, New York, Pages 46-57.
7. Monastersky, R., October 3, 1998. "Waves of Death," Science News, Washington, DC., Vol. 154, No. 14, Page 221.
8. Golden, F., Summer 1991. "Another Milestone in the Solid State," MOSAIC, Vol. 2, Washington, DC. Page 31.
9. Fisher, A., January 1988. "What Flips the Earth's field," Popular Science, New York, Pages 71-74, 112-113.
10. Howell, D., November 1985. "Terranes," Sci Am, New York, Pages 116-125.
11. Grant, Reg, 1991. "Unsolved Mysteries of the Past," A Dorling Kindersley Book, Readers Digest, Pleasantville, New York, Pages 45-51.
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