Plate Tectonics

Published May 30, 2010

Plate Tectonics is the name given to the widely accepted geological theory that explains the observable fact of continental drift. Abraham Ortelius, a 16th-century cartographer was one of the first to suggest that Africa, Europe and the Americas had at one time been joined together. In the 17^th century Sir Francis Bacon is claimed to have been similarly struck by the complementary profiles of South America and Africa, but this, according to G.L. Herries Davies, is an exaggeration of what Bacon actually wrote^(j). Alexander von Humboldt writing at the end of the 18th century, also commented that the ”lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean had once been joined.” Decades later Snider-Pellegrini expressed similar ideas that eventually led to the theories of ‘continental drift’ and plate tectonics.

In 1912, Alfred Wegener and Frank Taylor first outlined the concept of continental drift, which proposed that the surface of the Earth is in motion albeit very slowly. At first the idea was considered preposterous by the scientific community but gradually gained acceptance as evidence in its favour accumulated. In the early 1960’s the theory of ‘sea-floor spreading’ was developed and gradually the idea that the Earth’s surface consists of a number of plates that move relative to each other gained acceptance and evolved into the theory of plate tectonics that we have today. However, there are some anomalies that the present theory does not explain so further revision is probably required.

These anomalies together with the geographical match between the two continents led to the formulation of the Expanding Earth Hypothesis^(b).

When sea-floor spreading was identified in the Atlantic, some writers investigated where it might fit into the drama of Atlantis. It is not surprising that plate tectonics has been claimed by some, such as Frank Joseph, to support the existence of Atlantis, while others, including sceptic Paul Jordan, maintain that it makes the existence of Atlantis in the Atlantic an impossibility.

A further sceptical view of Atlantis in the Atlantic, by Benjamin Radford, claims^(k) that “plate tectonics demonstrate that Atlantis is impossible; as the continents have drifted, the seafloor has spread over time, not contracted. There would simply be no place for Atlantis to sink into. As Ken Feder notes, ‘The geology is clear; there could have been no large land surface that then sank in the area where Plato places Atlantis. Together, modern archaeology and geology provide an unambiguous verdict: There was no Atlantic continent; there was no great civilization called Atlantis.'” This, of course, is perfectly true, except that Plato placed Atlantis in the Atlantic Sea, which many believe was a reference at that particular time to the Western Mediterranean!

An interesting website on the subject of the problems associated with the theory of plate tectonics by David Pratt is worth a read^(a)(d)(i).>N.C. Smoot has also written^(p) about anomalies encountered with the conventional theory of plate tectonics and possible solutions.<

Equally critical is the opening chapter of Thomas J. Krupa’s book Biblical Flood, Noah’s Ark and the Star of David^[¹⁰¹⁰^]. Sustained opposition to the theory has found expression in the NCGT Journal^(e)since 1996.

Robert Bauval has written a paper on the possible effect that plate tectonics may have had on the accuracy of the orientation of the Giza pyramids^(m).

Marvin Herndon has proposed a new theory, which he has entitled ‘Whole-Earth Decompression Dynamics’; a subtle combination of plate tectonics and the Expanded Earth Hypothesis^(g). The idea of subduction is also challenged by the New Pangaea Theory (NPT)^(h).

The starting point of NPT is that “252 million years ago our planet was impacted by a massive comet, a comet far larger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. This previous impact was so powerful it fractured the Earth’s crust, began the breakup of Pangaea and wiped out most of the life on the planet.”^(o)The author, J. Chris Everett, proposes the comet, 100km in diameter, was absorbed into the body of our planet.

P.P. Flambas, author of Plato’s Caribbean Atlantis^[¹³⁶⁸^] in which he has proposed a modification to the current theory of PT, which he has called the ‘Hydraulic Hypothesis’ to explain shortcomings in accepted PT theory and support his Atlantis location.

A July 2016 report was published on the rate of tectonic movement, estimated to be comparable to the speed of fingernail growth^(f).

In 2020, it was reported that “scientists are beginning to understand the importance of another characteristic of any planet likely to support life, and it is one that fits squarely into (James) Lovelock’s view of Earth as a dynamic participant rather than a passive backdrop: an active system of drifting continents, otherwise known as plate tectonics. On the face of it, the connection between life, with its relatively brief cycles and dizzying complexity, and plate tectonics, with its much slower cycles and ostensibly simpler interactions, appears tenuous. But on Earth, at least, that connection is direct and deep.” ⁽ⁿ⁾.

Evidence of plate tectonics has now been identified on Mars^(c)! In October 2019 NASA confirmed that a number of ‘marsquakes’ have been confirmed on the ‘Red Planet’^(l). So far, the evidence suggests that our planet is more moon-like than earth-like.

^(a) https://davidpratt.info/tecto.htm

^(b) https://web.archive.org/web/20171105200137/https://www.grisda.org/origins/15053.htm

^(c) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120809155831.htm

^(d)https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2012/11/27/serious-issues-with-plate-tectonics-2/

^(e)http://www.ncgtjournal.com/index.html

^(f) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/science/continental-drift-tectonic-plates.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=1

^(g) http://www.nuclearplanet.com/510090.pdf

^(h) https://web.archive.org/web/20170429173617/https://newpangaeatheory.com/the-enigmas/

⁽ⁱ⁾ An Alternative to Plate and Expansion Tectonics – Thunderbolts Forum (v2.0) (archive.org) (new link) *

^(j) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238388608_Francis_Bacon_and_Continental_Drift

^(k) https://www.livescience.com/23217-lost-city-of-atlantis.html

^(l) https://www.universetoday.com/143625/insight-has-already-detected-21-marsquakes/