Some Thoughts on Empirical Evidence Supporting Expansion Tectonics

By John B. Eichler

Expansion Tectonics is the geological hypothesis that the Earth has undergone massive growth over geologic time. It competes with the Plate Tectonics hypothesis. Both concepts begin with a super continent called Pangaea that broke up over the last 200-300 million years to form the continents observed today.

The primary difference between these concepts is that Plate Tectonics assumes that Earth's radius has remained relatively constant over time whereas Expansion Tectonics assumes the Earth's radius has increased over time. Although Plate Tectonics is the widely accepted paradigm today, many professional geologists who have closely studied the empirical evidence maintain that the Expansion Tectonics concept provides a superior model that better fits what is actually observed. They point to many technical problems with the Plate Tectonics model.

Empirical evidence favors the Expansion Tectonics model which would be readily adopted if it wasn't for one major problem—the requirement of a viable mechanism to explain how the Earth gains the mass needed for expansion to have occurred.

Part one of this book describes the origin of the Expansion Tectonics model and the empirical evidence in support of this model. Part two describes a new mass gain hypothesis based on a viable physical process that has an empirical basis in laboratory experiments.

This book is quite thought provoking and will open your eyes to a new understanding of the Earth's geological history. It is directed to a non-technical audience which has an interest in science. The book contains an extensive index and detailed bibliography of technical references on every topic covered. In addition to the paperback version, the book is also available as an eBook at a lower price.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Briggs-Vaughan Publishing
• Release date: Jan 29, 2024
• ISBN: 9798988519034

Book preview

Some Thoughts on

Empirical Evidence

Supporting

Expansion Tectonics

John B. Eichler

Copyright © 2024 John B. Eichler

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests contact the publisher.

Some Thoughts on Empirical Evidence

Supporting Expansion Tectonics

by John B. Eichler

ISBN: 979-8-9885190-3-4 (eBook)

ISBN: 979-8-9885190-2-7 (Paperback)

First edition 2024.

Front cover image from a presentation by S.W. Carey at

Continental Drift, a Symposium, March, 1956. [24, p. 223]

Published by

Briggs-Vaughan Publishing

P.O. Box 7447

Little Rock, Arkansas 72217 USA

www.Briggs-Vaughan-Publishing.com

[e-mail]

This book is dedicated to

Professor Samuel Warren Carey

(1911-2002)

Summary

A small, highly qualified group of Earth scientists believe widely available empirical evidence indicates that the Earth has expanded significantly over geological time. Close examination of such evidence clearly suggests that it should be taken seriously. The term Expansion Tectonics is used to explain this concept as opposed to the familiar concept of Plate Tectonics.

The purpose of this book is twofold. First, it serves as an overview of the empirical evidence available as gathered over many decades by these scientists, many of whom are engaged in geology as a profession or are respected educators in recognized centers of higher education. Second, it presents a new hypothesis on the possible cause of such expansion.

As an adjunct but related topic, some discussion will center around what constitutes a scientific paradigm and how paradigms undergo changes over time. In science, like other disciplines, paradigms only change, i.e., a paradigm shift occurs, when the existing paradigm no longer significantly explains empirically known facts. Conflicts emerge, new hypotheses arise, and eventually the old paradigm is replaced by the new one. The whole process can take years or decades to occur.

Included is an extensive index and bibliography of source material for those who wish to explore the subjects covered in greater technical detail.

Foreword

Ever since John Eichler first contacted Professor Sam Warren Carey, Professor Emeritus of geology at the University of Tasmania, in the mid-1970s, he was interested in locating others who were working on the Expanding Earth theory. When the internet came around, John said he bumped into my name and wondered what sort of character would have the same crazy idea that Carey and he had discovered independently decades before in the 1950s.

I had just completed a master's degree when John contacted me in the mid-1990s. John could be considered a member of a group of like-minded professionals from all sorts of disciplines around the world who were ardent followers of the late Professor Sam Warren Carey, the father of the Expanding Earth theory. John was keen to become more active in this field of research and was also anxious to know me better. As John correctly mentions in this book, Professor Carey had passed on his baton to me, and I was encouraged to further this line of research in studying for my PhD.

By 2002 I had completed my PhD and had successfully modelled Expansion Tectonics, as I formally called it, back to the early Archaean, a daunting task but highly convincing. Soon after, I published my first book on Expansion Tectonics titled Terra non-Firma Earth. John bought a copy of this book and contacted me in Perth, Western Australia, with a barrage of questions and, more importantly, suggestions and an offer of assistance for a new book, to which I gratefully accepted. We have been close friends ever since.

My first book is a simplified version of my PhD dissertation and, while adequate, was lacking some supporting global observational data and, more importantly, a convincing causal mechanism. A move to Brisbane, Queensland, with a mining company I was working for at the time, gave me the opportunity to pick up on John's offer of assistance and together we embarked on my second book titled On the Origin of Continents and Oceans, published in 2014.

One of the reasons that John and I relate on a personal level has much to do with our common cheeky banter intermixed with good sense and judgement. Our common love of the challenge that new things present also helped, along with our different but complementary past life experiences and professional expertise. While John and I have a common interest in Earth Expansion theory, his knowledge of geology was lacking somewhat, which made us a perfect combination to write and edit my second book. If John didn't know or comprehend what I was trying to get across, then nobody else would.

The target audience for my book On the Origin of Continents and Oceans was directed to those with an innate interest in the natural sciences, in particular to those with prior exposure to the various earth sciences. John made a perfect role model, and, in essence, this book was written with John in mind. His assistance in formatting, editing, pushing and pulling, technical brainstorming, suggestions, and guidance was invaluable and will be forever appreciated.

My book also gave us both free scope to address the most pressing issue facing acceptance of Expansion Tectonics in the modern world—a causal mechanism for an increase in Earth mass over time. A past professor friend of mine had previously warned me not to tackle this issue. Another Polish Doctor of Geology friend commented that: It is not a task of the geologist to explain problems beyond their discipline. Their task is to see and correctly explain all geological facts, to which I adhered, but the one question that is always asked is: What is the causal mechanism? And again, as my Polish friend also said: The insinuation that we still do not know a physical process responsible for an accelerated expansion of the Earth is not a scientific counterargument. The physical nature of many processes has regularly been recognized in science long after they were first recognized as real phenomena.

John's current book goes into great depth on how and why a causal mechanism for an increase in earth mass was first conceived by him and subsequently brainstormed, refined, and accepted by us both. We were both thinking along the same lines, and I am indebted for John's background in physics and computing for being able to formulate this proposal professionally and put it all together.

While publication of my second book completed my need to present both supporting global observational data and a causal mechanism, there was still a lack of technical presentation suitable to tackle professional and academic Earth scientists. This very quickly led to a third book titled Beyond Plate Tectonics: Unsettling Settled Science first published in 2018, which is now in its second edition.

Once again, John was extensively involved with editing and with technical assistance and, by that time, I was confident that his geological knowledge had progressed far enough for him to tackle the level of technical detail for which I was aiming. His assistance also extended to innovative website design and implementation highlighting progress we had made on gathering data. Being spherical, the Earth is particularly difficult to present in 2D book format, which John enthusiastically resolved by his innovative presentations on the website which he built for me.

My wife and I also had the good fortune to meet John and his wife in 2011, when we all embarked on a road trip from Los Angeles to his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas. We enjoyed numerous sites and lookouts along the way. He is as much a cheeky rogue in the flesh as he is over the internet, and my enthusiasm for all things geological in the U.S. southwest was much appreciated during this wonderful trip.

When reading and progressing through John's book, readers will likely pick up on his native intelligence and enthusiasm, but he often writes as though his experiences and intuition are commonplace. They are not. Like me, he draws from a wide range of like-minded professionals and researchers from around the world before formulating his own opinions and ideas. Of importance is that these opinions are not always main-stream, and he is definitely not shy about coming forward with fresh and innovative ideas to resolve problems.

The causal mechanism for an increase in mass of the Earth over time formulated by John and presented in his book is both fresh and innovative. It is also perfectly plausible and convincing, but to a fraternity so entrenched in conventional Plate Tectonic dogma, it will not be accepted. We both know this but live in hope. Unfortunately, as is often said, a paradigm shift worthy of notoriety only comes after death, so see you then good buddy.

Dr. James Maxlow

Perth, Western Australia

Preface

After high school I attended college at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. During my first semester, Russia launched their first space satellite and started the space race. I spent hours upon hours studying and practicing the design of rockets and even started a rocket society on the IIT campus.

My time was not all lost because my interest in rockets helped to get me my first job at the Armour Research Foundation (later to become the IIT Research Institute) which also introduced me to the field of computers in 1959. For many years I worked on nuclear blast shield design under a contract from the then U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. In conjunction with this work I wrote an extensive computer program—for a vacuum tube scientific computer, no less—to simulate strong shockwave propagation in potential blast shield fabrications. The U.S. anticipated a Chernobyl-type accident and did not want the same to happen in this country.

My interest in science also led me to an interest in the Earth, and so I started reading about geophysics in my spare time. During 1958-59, while looking at an illustration on the cover of a technical geology book [43], it occurred to me that the Earth may have undergone an expansion over time. It would be an additional 15 years before I realized that there was someone else, Professor Samuel Warren Carey (to whom this book is dedicated), a geologist in Tasmania, who held a similar belief that the Earth was expanding. I had arrived at this same conclusion from a philosophical point of view whereas Carey had done so from geological evidence. I have continued my interest in this topic for more than 60 years. Within the past 10 years, I came up with the causal explanation explained in this book. Although just a hypothesis, these ideas represent a new approach to explain how the Earth has gained mass over geological time and has gained some interest with other professionals from this field.

When I was approaching retirement age, I started taking courses at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock resulting in a master's degree. During that time I persuaded one of my professors into letting me do a year-long independent study and write a book covering many of my ideas. I even fashioned several chapters of my book into my master's thesis. This current book is the result of years of thought and study on this subject.

While working on my thesis, in 2010 I decided I'd take a break and write an article which I hoped to submit to an Australian publication. My friend James Maxlow had published several articles in this magazine, and they seemed to have an interest in the subject matter of this current book. In the fall of that year I started on the article, and after I started I sent what I had so far to Maxlow for him to look over. His comment was that the article was not ready for prime time yet and that I should continue researching the subject matter.

Now I knew the problem of mass gain quite well having pondered it for many decades, but at the time I was in the middle of my thesis and had been writing about the cosmological concepts of Hannes Alfvén, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, concerning the electromagnetic forces in the universe as the prime shapers of the cosmos. My mind put two and two together, and I wondered if the magnetic field of the Earth might cause conduction of protons into the Earth. I knew electron conduction was very common and well understood, but I wondered might the same thing also occur with protons. I had never heard of proton conduction before. Being curious I decided to do research on the subject at the university library.

I quickly discovered that proton conduction was also very well understood and numerous articles and several books had been written on the subject. Before long I had accumulated a small collection of information on proton conduction. I knew that both electrons and protons were required to form atoms so this would mean that both particles would be available within the Earth. Maybe I was on to something completely glossed over by others; a brand new concept for matter formation within the Earth not previously considered.

One more item was needed, namely how could significant new matter be formed. Once more a bulb turned on in my mind and the subject of cold fusion popped into it. I had always regarded cold fusion as a pseudoscience and had never investigated it in any detail. Having a major in physics in my undergraduate studies, I understood the principles involved and delved into researching the topic more extensively. Over the previous three decades, beginning in the 1990s, it turned out that much research worldwide had gone into cold fusion and much literature was available on the topic. I discuss it at some length in this book.

Regardless of the great progress made during my lifetime, I have come to realize that our understanding of the universe is lacking in many areas. I discovered firsthand that many topics taught to students are presented as if we know all the facts, but our understanding still has a long way to go. This has led to the situation that not all bases are being covered, especially concerning many accepted paradigms of science.

My purpose in this book is to present a topic in geology not widely talked about in schools. I want to discuss areas of science that many highly qualified scientists have spent decades investigating and whose ideas and concepts are not the currently accepted paradigms. My goal was to produce a book—accessible to students and others interested in science—unlike many of the highly technical scientific books of today.

A wide variety of topics are covered here, many of which will probably be new to many readers. Science has a tendency to present concepts as relatively nice and neatly packaged bundles that are known and accepted facts. But, as the wizard hidden behind the curtain, many of these so called facts are merely consensus opinions of the majority of scientists in a particular field. If one cares to dig a little deeper, one will find that there are a number of other scientists who challenge many such facts with their arguments based on sound empirical physical evidence. However, the majority of alternate theories are not widely heard about because it is extremely difficult to publish alternate theories in major scientific journals. No wonder many people are often surprised when they first learn that many supposed facts are really foci of controversy.

I have included three appendices. The first is a copy of an article I wrote several years ago where I introduced a suggestion on how to explain a potential increase in the mass of the Earth. The second is a copy of a chapter I recently wrote about the subject which appeared in a book [56] about workers in this field. The third is a detailed discussion of paradigms and how paradigm shifts occur. This appeared in my master's thesis. I might strongly suggest reading at least the first two appendices for additional details not included in the main text of the book.

This book is designed to raise questions in the mind of the reader that all is not yet settled with regard to our understanding of the Earth. The book purposely doesn't present highly technical details, but rather uses a broad-based brush to introduce a number of important concepts. The intended reader is assumed to be anyone interested in the topic of science no matter their level of scientific understanding. More specifically, it should be an enjoyable and informative read for students and others who have a scientific interest.

You will find many ideas and concepts presented herein new and quite interesting. Perhaps you, my reader, will someday further contribute to the material discussed in these pages. I certainly hope so.

Good reading.

John B. Eichler

Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Acknowledgements

No person is an island and this is certainly true for me. Every book author knows it takes more than one person to produce a quality product. A few family, friends, and colleagues assisted me as proofreaders. Although their efforts are transparent throughout the book, I can assure you that they are indeed present and to no small degree. As with a movie, if your attention is directed to the lighting or music instead of the story, the lighting or music director hasn't done his or her job in a professional manner. The same is true with those who helped me edit my manuscript.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Pat, my loving wife. She had perhaps the hardest job of anyone—living with me when I'm writing. She put up with my late hours to bed and my early hours working before dawn. How she manages it all is beyond my comprehension!

James Maxlow and Ron Eddy are close friends whose email boxes I filled with revision after revision. These two friends help keep me on the straight and narrow. Neither was shy to give me their honest opinion and suggest helpful modifications. Thanks guys for sticking with me over the years.

Our daughter, Professor Joan Simon, also had no qualms about ripping apart my meticulous work. In her professional work, Joan has edited multitudes of papers, theses, and dissertations so her experience is invaluable. Thanks Joan for helping your old man.

And last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Donna Simon and Carol Iskowich, both of whom are expert proofreaders. Donna worked for years editing the work of a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Carol was an English major who extensively studied literature. Both Donna and Carol helped me ensure that each comma and semicolon was expertly placed, and my sentences made sense to my readers. Their help was invaluable.

All in all, this book reflects a group effort at clarity, and without their tedious effort this work would not be possible. My sincere thanks to everyone mentioned above for your generous contribution to this book.

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PART 1

The Tectonics of the Earth

Chapter 1

Tectonics of the Earth

All physical theories, their mathematical expression notwithstanding, ought to lend themselves to so simple a description that even a child could understand them.

Albert Einstein, 1927 conversation with Louis de Broglie

This chapter introduces a scientific concept, first introduced in the 1850s and most recently revived in the mid twentieth century, that the Earth has experienced a massive increase in size over geologic time. This expansion started when the radius of the ancient Earth, according to Carey and others, was approximately 55 percent or less of its current value.{1} ,{2}

1.1  What is tectonics?

Tectonics is defined as the study of the structure of the Earth's surface and the ways in which it changes shape over time. The evolution of theories concerning the geological structure of the Earth have a long and interesting history—much older than the more recent concept of Plate Tectonics. Living on the surface of Earth one might be led to the conclusion that it should be relatively well known how the internal dynamics of our planet work. However, this is far from the case (see subsection 5.4.1).

Over the last 150 years, numerous studies using different scientific geologic techniques have clearly indicated that in ancient times, prior to between 300 to 200 million years ago, our present-day continents were once joined together as the supercontinent Pangaea and have since moved apart. Most professional geologists accept this conclusion. What is not agreed upon is the mechanisms and dynamics explaining how this breakup occurred and how it continues today.

Several distinct yet interrelated concepts have dominated geological discussions as to the tectonic history of the Earth. These are shown conceptually in Figure 1.1. Both Plate Tectonics—the current predominant paradigm—and Expansion Tectonics—the challenging model—trace their origins back to the now-discounted Continental Drift Theory as shown. The development of these theories is recounted in detail within the historical background presented in this chapter.

Figure 1.1. Diagram showing relationship of concepts of Earth geology.

Because of the number of articles and books written on the subject of tectonics—a very small component of the disciplines of geology and geophysics—it is difficult to detail all the studies of scientists who have published over the years referencing Continental Drift, Plate Tectonics, and expanding Earth. Part I of the book contains a discussion of the primary individuals contributing to the study of Expansion Tectonics along with their principal contributions.

The subject matter in this scientific area of study involves not only the discipline of geology, and especially the sub-discipline of tectonics, but also the disciplines of geophysics, physics, biology, and others. Even astronomy and cosmology may contribute to an explanation of the dynamics behind the motion of continents. More specifically, Carey's tectonics model (see chapter 2) incorporates a mass increase of the Earth which is both non-apparent and the major obstacle in the adoption of the Earth expansion concept.

To understand the evolution of the modern concept of Earth dynamics, one must go back to a time when maps of the world