CONTENTS

PREFACE
A Window on the World
Pathway to a new Perception
Acknowledgements

 

1 MULTIPLE THEORIES AT WORK; COMPETITION AND STALEMATE

1.1 Thermal Contraction
1.1.1 The North American school
1.1.2 The European school
1.1.3 Contraction programmes and their inadequacy

1.2 The Notion of Isostasy
1.2.1 Discovery and initial considerations
1.2.2 The Hayford-Bowie conception
1.2.3 Problems with geological facts

1.3 Linking Tectonics with Earth Rotation:
The Work of A. D. Kreichgauer

1.4 The Hypothesis of Continental Drift
1.4.1 From wild speculations to scientific model
1.4.2 Wegener’s discord
1.4.3 Pattern matching on shaky grounds
1.4.4 Global palaeoclimate pattern substantiating polar wander
1.4.5 The late Palaeozoic climate system: wishful thinking versus the facts

1.5 Diverse Facts in Search of a Unifying Theory
1.5.1 The land-bridge controversy
1.5.2 Variations in attitude to the drift hypothesis
1.5.3 Global pulsation: driven by thermal contraction or primordial gas release?
1.5.4 Marine gravity observations; lithospheric mobilism after all?
1.5.5 Theoretical confusion prevails .

2 DRIFT IN TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION; A HIGHWAY TO NOWHERE

2.1 Palaeomagnetism and the Resurgence of Polar Wander and Drift
2.1.1 The initial astonishing results
2.1.2 The question of India’s motion: lingering doubts dwindle away
2.1.3 The mobilistic principle: sideways translation or ‘in situ’ rotation?

2.2 Crust and Upper Mantle Heterogeneity: Mobility Constraints
2.2.1 Continental roots
2.2.2 Oceanization

2.3 The Search for Displacement Forces
2.3.1 Expansion hypotheses
2.3.2 Alternative proposition: sea floor spreading
2.3.3 Magnetic patterns over the oceans
2.3.4 Tectonic features of mid-ocean ridges: the transform fault concept

2.4 Plate Tectonics: A Scientific Revolution on Shaky Grounds
2.4.1 A strange development
2.4.2 A test of sea floor spreading: the South Atlantic transect
2.4.3 The magnetic inclination problem of mid-ocean basalts
2.4.4 Early warnings

3 THE EARTH’S ORIGIN AND INITIAL CONSTITUTION

3.1 Shifting Views

3.2 A Solar System Perspective

3.3 Aggregation of the Proto-Earth

3.4 Properties of the Core

3.5 Back to Theoretical Square One

4 MASS AND ENERGY TRANSFERS FROM THE DEEP

4.1 The Earth’s Primeval Physico-Chemical Make-up

4.2 An Initial Anorthositic Shell?

4.3 A Planet in Physico-Chemical Disequilibrium
4.3.1 Current chain of conjectures
4.3.2 The hydridic Proto-Earth

4.4 Geophysical Imaging of the Interior

4.5 Planetary Degassing in Evidence
4.5.1 Abundance of carbon in the planetary system
4.5.2 The question of internal porosity
4.5.3 Carbon-bearing fluids as inclusions in diamonds
4.5.4 Surface emanations of natural gases
4.5.5 Hydrides and their near-surface reactions

4.6 Transformation of the Primordial Crust
4.6.1 Volume and longterm areal distribution of sea water – crustal implications
4.6.2 Development of the Archaean crust; an Earth-Moon comparison
4.6.3 Eclogitization – a principal cause of crustal development

4.7 Unravelling Currently Enigmatic Problems – Examples from the Arctic

4.8 The Road to a New Global Theory

5 OUTLINE OF THE NEW DYNAMO-TECTONIC SYSTEM .

5.1 The Theoretical Tree – A Synopsis

5.2 Crust and Upper Mantle in Early Transformation
5.2.1 Formation of Benioff zones
5.2.2 Granitization and mineralization of the early crust
5.2.3 Initial implantation of the orthogonal fracture network

5.3 From Continental Basins to Deep Oceans
5.3.1 A prominent example – the Basin and Range system
5.3.2 The gradual process of crustal transformation
5.3.3 Sea-level changes and intermittent crustal ‘oceanization’
5.3.4 Other environmental implications

5.4 Changes in Earth’s Rotation and Related Geological Processes
5.4.1 Secular changes of Earth’s spin velocity
5.4.2 Polar wander and predicted geological processes
5.4.3 Principal geological processes

5.5 The Earth During the Alpine Climax
5.5.1 Moving towards a tectonic revolution
5.5.2 A protracted history of lithospheric wrenching
5.5.3 Inertia-driven continental rotations
5.5.4 Oceanic crustal deformation and the significance of marine magnetic lineations –
some pre-eminent Pacific examples
5.5.5 Magnetic lineations and mid-ocean ridges

5.6 The Modern Earth
5.6.1 Termination of the Alpine cataclysm and onset of new global unrest
5.6.2 Continental mountain ranges
5.6.3 Mid-ocean ridges
5.6.4 Contemporary crustal velocities from space geodesy

6 TESTING THE THEORY’S EXPLANATORY POWER – FROM INDIAN OCEAN TO AUSTRALASIA IN ALPINE TIME

6.1 The Crust of the pre-late Cretaceous Indian Ocean
6.1.1 Plateaus and aseismic ridges
6.1 2 Rock evidence from the SW and Central Indian and Carlsberg ridges

6.2 Diffuse Lithospheric Deformation across the Indian Ocean
6.2.1 The large scale tectonic picture
6.2.2 Volcanism: regional and temporal distribution

6.3 Tectonic Aspects of Northern Indian Ocean
6.3.1 In situ rotation of India: summary of palaeomagnetic evidence
6.3.2 The boundaries of Greater India
6.3.3 Further evidence from deep-sea stratigraphy and palaeomagnetism
6.3.4 Temporal diversification of tectonic boundaries .

6.4 Extending the Alpine Wrench System across the Southern Hemisphere
6.4.1 Palaeomagnetic discordance astride the diffuse Indian Ocean shear zone

6.5 Aspects of the Alpine Tectonic History of Antarctica

6.6 Early Development of the Austral-Asia Tectonic Link: Palaeogeography of the Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary
6.6.1 The western Indonesian margin
6.6.2 Prominent features of insular SE Asia: a brief overview
6.6.3 Intermittent basin development in SE Asia
6.6.4 A summary of the tectonic situation at the end of the Alpine climax

6.7 Significant Structural Implications of the Counter-clockwise Rotation of Greater Australia
6.7.1 The Tonga-Fiji region as a tectonic front
6.7.2 Wrench processes in the wake of the rotation: the Wharton Basin
6.7.3 The Austral-Asia collision: biogeographic and tectonic implications
6.7.4 Palaeomagnetism and the puzzle over Borneo’s tectonic rotation

6.8 Borneo’s Rotation in the Wrench Tectonic Setting
6.8.1 Structural features off NW Borneo
6.8.2 Tectonomagmatic effects in eastern Borneo

6.9 Evolution of NW Borneo Continental Margin
6.9.1 The tectono-depositional framework
6.9.2 Three stages of evolution

6.10 Concluding Remarks

7 THE LATE ARCHAEAN-MID PALAEOZOIC EARTH: BASIC FEATURES OF A TECTONIC EVOLUTION

7.1 The Ubiquitous Network of Orthogonal Fractures
7.1.1 Jointing – new perspective on a long-standing enigma
7.1.2 The initial configuration of orthogonal fractures and the late Archaean palaeo- equator
7.1.3 Geological implications

7.2 Palaeoequator and Wrench Tectonics During the Proterozoic
7.2.1 A first-order global picture
7.2.2 Grenvillian and Cadomian activity in the Arctic-North Atlantic region
7.2.3 Pan-African and Brazilian mobile belts
7.2.4 The Mozambique, Transantarctic and Adelaidean events

7.3 Newfoundland: a Precambrian-Lower Palaeozoic Tectonic Junction
7.3.1 A global perspective
7.3.2 Geological outline of Newfoundland
7.3.3 The tectonic lineaments of Newfoundland

7.4 Newfoundland Appalachians: Segment of a Globe-Girdling Fold Belt
7.4.1 Ordovician polar wander event and the early-mid Palaeozoic tectonic arrangement
7.4.2 Main evolutionary facets of the Newfoundland mobile belt
7.4.3 The late Palaeozoic and younger history

Postscript
References
Index