INTRODUCTION/MAIN Introduction/Main BACKGROUND Seafarer's Challenge Why This Interest Continental Drift Oppositions to Drift Craftsman's Approach EMPIRICAL MODEL The Empirical Model Expansion Basics Model Construction Expansion Basics Model Construction Model Demonstration Riverbed Formation Video Demonstration CONCLUSIONS Conclusions Summary of Evidence The Mid-Oceans Crests Making Mountains & The Pacific Ocean Moon Expulsion Earthquakes An Impact Vision EXPANSION CARTOGRAPHY Expansion Cartography The Big Picture Waterworld Inland Evidence EXPAND HOW? Expand How? Owen's Plasma Core Continental Shelves EPILOGUE Epilogue BOOK INFO Book Info / Feedback Continental Drift Theory The currently accepted, but still debated, theory that the continents have drifted across the Earth's surface to their current locations. According to this concept, the continents were originally part of a single landmass, or supercontinent, called Pangaea. Catastrophism The theory that certain Earth developments have been accelerated, occurring suddenly through violent and unusual events such as celestial body impact or interference of near-passing meteorites. Plate Tectonics A theory that provides an explanation for Continental Drift, suggesting that the Earth's crust is comprised of segments, or plates, which shift very slowly (inches per year). The continents are said to move with them. Magma currents are said to propel the tectonic plates by convection. The movement of these plates against one another is assumed to be the cause of earthquakes.

WHY THIS CHALLENGING INTEREST? A HISTORY OF EXPANSION A little booklet titled The Moon Problem: Solved Ref 18 caught this author's attention from a display window of a second-hand bookstore in Amsterdam. Until then, the moon had caused no problem, except that on one moon-lit spring night nightingales sang across the canal, affecting in this author's puber hart the sensibilities of a Dutch poet to ponder the mysteries of life in a moon-lit graveyard - the summit of romance and beauty against the abyss of despair. It was claimed for 50 cents. It was published in 1928 by an obscure printing shop named Luctor et Emergo (I wrestle and escape). The writer concealed himself with the fitting pseudonym "Aero-Dilettant" (space amateur). The author, inspired by an article in the Haagsche Post, a former weekly magazine in The Hague, had tackled a highly controversial subject. After considerable independent research, he approached every known specialist in the field, but without result. He stood primarily on the honour of being the first in whatever he proposed, not as himself incidentally, but as the "Areo-Dilettant". The booklet describes an experiment in which he traces the continents from a larger globe and, by levelling the mountains to estimate an increased size of the continents, shows that the continents make a perfect fit on a smaller globe, particularly in the proportion of 1.7 to 1. This was in 1928, during the time when Alfred Wegener was struggling to promote continental drift. As a craftsman, this author was intrigued by the subject and by the logic of fitting the continents on a smaller globe. Indeed, how convincing and logical the fittings of these continents look in the pictures of the experiment. For this craftsman though, it could not be absolute proof; manual adjustments arouse suspicion of manipulating the model to favour the thesis. In The Expanding Earth Ref 3, S. Warren Carey mentions evidence of previous expansion research. He traces it back to some Russian scientists who had proposed the expansion theory in the 1800s. The Dutch author could not have known about this previous work. Carey himself, a pioneering promoter of continental drift, later concluded through research that it was impossible to attribute the fitting of the continents to the drift hypothesis. Yet, however thorough his research and however eloquently defended, it was to no avail. Lecturing at eminent universities, he was met with scorn. It should be noted that as an all-round geologist Carey was not a catastrophist. How open minded and daring he was to change his convictions. A colleague advised Carey to trace the evolution of humans' conception of the Earth and Universe from the Stone Age past Einstein, and present his findings to the educated lay person rather than the technical specialist. Carey's next book, Theories of the Earth and Universe: A History of Dogma in the Earth Sciences Ref 5, offers his second challenge to the theory of plate tectonics. His approach is best understood by quoting the book jacket. Pages 266-270 of this book are of special interest, mentioning engineer Klaus Vogel as one of the people from many countries who assembled the continents on a smaller globe. Vogel went a step further in his experiment, transferring the continents from the smaller globe to a larger transparent one. He reached the same conclusion as the Dutch writer. However correct Vogel's conclusion, his method still gave cause for dispute. The experiment suffered the same weakness as the Dutch author's, although to a lesser degree; Vogel manually adjusted the continents to achieve their true positions. Here was the challenge for this craftsman, having first been inspired in 1943, before Carey and Vogel, by that second-hand booklet. The challenge was to produce a model, a live model, which could present indisputable proof of an expanded Earth. This craftsman approached the challenge carefully, aware of the possible implications. Top | Main | a refresher on Continental Drift