© Science AdminsImpact Tectonics: Mike Fischer's Shock Dynamics TheoryTheory:
- Supercontinent
- Major Impact
- Supercontinent Breakup
- Impulse Mountain Ranges
- Rapid Continental Sliding
- Arc Trenches
- Braking Mountain Ranges
"A study published in Nature today shares the discovery that large-scale upwelling within Earth's mantle mostly occurs in only two places: beneath Africa and the Central Pacific. More importantly, Clinton Conrad, Associate Professor of Geology at the University of Hawaii – Manoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and colleagues revealed that these upwelling locations have remained remarkably stable over geologic time, despite dramatic reconfigurations of tectonic plate motions and continental locations on the Earth's surface.
"For example," said Conrad, "the Pangaea supercontinent formed and broke apart at the surface, but we think that the upwelling locations in the mantle have remained relatively constant despite this activity."
Conrad has studied patterns of tectonic plates throughout his career, and has long noticed that the plates were, on average, moving northward. "Knowing this," explained Conrad, "I was curious if I could determine a single location in the Northern Hemisphere toward which all plates are converging, on average." After locating this point in eastern Asia, Conrad then wondered if other special points on Earth could characterize plate tectonics. "With some mathematical work, I described the plate tectonic 'quadrupole', which defines two points of 'net convergence' and two points of 'net divergence' of tectonic plate motions."
When the researchers computed the plate tectonic quadrupole locations for present-day plate motions, they found that the net divergence locations were consistent with the African and central Pacific locations where scientists think that mantle upwellings are occurring today. "This observation was interesting and important, and it made sense," said Conrad. "Next, we applied this formula to the time history of plate motions and plotted the points - I was astonished to see that the points have not moved over geologic time!" Because plate motions are merely the surface expression of the underlying dynamics of the Earth's mantle, Conrad and his colleagues were able to infer that upwelling flow in the mantle must also remain stable over geologic time. "It was as if I was seeing the 'ghosts' of ancient mantle flow patterns, recorded in the geologic record of plate motions!"
http://phys.org/news/2013-06-upwelling-earth-mantle-stable.html#nRlv
As Mike Fisher explains at newgeology.us, and as Cardona concurs, plate tectonics occurred just a few thousand years ago, so there hasn't been all that much time for the quadrupoles to be stable. Brant, do you disagree with Fisher for any reason?
