The Behavior of the Earth; Continental and Seafloor Mobility by Claude Allègre [Book Review]

Abstract

The modern theory of continental drift, plate tectonics, sea floor spreading, global tectonics and polar wander can be expressed as follows: The results of geophysical research over the past two decades have left little doubt that subcrustal convection currents exist, driven by temperature differences in the mantle. Isotacy would be impossible without such currents. The outer layers surrounding the Pacific basin have been displaced toward its center, relative to the deeper layers, causing the Pacific basin to shrink in size. Earthquakes, both deep and shallow, repeatedly break in the same direction showing that continental block move as a whole - a motion which can be a rotation, a translation or both. A global stress pattern results as the outer layer moves over a spheroidal Earth. Convection, continental drift and polar wander go band in band.