Geophysics & Earth Evolution

Prof. K.M. Storetvedt

Karsten M. Storetvedt

Karsten M. Storetvedt

(1935 - present)

Karsten M. Storetvedt obtained his masters degree in 1962 and his Ph.D. in 1969. He has been associated with the University of Bergen since 1962, becoming a professor of geophysics in 1973. At the Geophysical Institute in Bergen, he taught modern perspectives on the Earth’s development (continental drift and plate tectonics) for nearly 10 years before such ideas became standard within Norwegian geological education. However, today he considers this theory to be the most serious misconception in the history of earth sciences.

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Coming to grips with the World of Science

Coming to grips with the World of Science

“The fact that science is also a human activity with all its “binding factors” – including the complex web of social, cultural and psychological circumstances – holding us prisoners of contemporary ingrained ideas, was not in my mind. With the benefit of hindsight I gradually came to realize that I had grown up with the erroneous notion that the scientific establishment at large welcomes progress, which in fact is the opposite of what is generally true.”

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The Theory: Global Wrench Tectonics

The Theory: Global Wrench Tectonics

“In fact, it looks as if the Earth is in a state of chemical disequilibrium. Degassing of the core and lower mantle is apparently incomplete, probably implying that the temperature of the deeper parts of the planet has always been moderate – higher temperature and magma pockets being properties only of the outer few hundred kilometres. When extended to the surface, upstanding segments of the C-M boundary tend to correspond to deep oceanic depressions, while ‘topographically’ lower C-M regions accord with the location of the continents and their mantle roots.”

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Global Wrench Tectonics – Theory of Earth Evolution

Global Wrench Tectonics, an extension of the author’s Our Evolving Planet, takes us on a ground-breaking tour of the most critical facets of Earth history. It was the gradual realization that the prevailing theoretical constructs on the Earth’s history are riddled with paradoxes and mired in conjecture that prompted the author into a long-lasting speculation on the global dynamic system.

Iconoclashing Hypothesis

English translation and revised online edition of the 2005 book “When foundations fail”. A personal recount of the author’s journey from the beginning of Drift Hypothesis to Plate Tectonics and his eventual discard and breakthrough of a new theory.

Our Evolving Planet – Earth History in New Perspective

Does the plate tectonic model represent a “quantum leap” in our understanding of the Earth as currently alleged? And will that model be a fruitful guide for the Earth sciences into the 21st Century? This book answers such...

Vitenskapens fremste rivaler

Utfordrer geovitenskapens vandrehistorier. For en etablert og selvtilfreds vitenskap er trusselen fra ny grunnlagstenkning det verste som kan skje. I mangelen på saklige motargumenter får derfor opposisjonen ofte et nedrig preg. Det overordnede tema i denne boken er de åpenbare menneskelige trekkene som fulgte kontinentaldrift-hypotesens tidlige historie…

Selected articles

Geoscientific Urban Legends

Geoscientific Urban Legends

DISCUSSION “[A well-trained rationalist] will obey the mental image of his master, he will conform to the standards of argumentation he has learned, he will adhere to these standards no matter how great the confusion in which he finds himself, and he will be quite...

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Accounting for a Mobilistic Earth

Accounting for a Mobilistic Earth

Prejudices, for one reason or another, frequently complicate a straight-forward interpretation of data. Besides, observations are always theory-laden – in the sense that they assume, usually without argument or justification, particular background assumptions or a bridging thought constructions.

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