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 Magma Fluid or semifluid matter which forms igneous rock when cooled.

THE EMPIRICAL MODEL Consider for a moment what is taught in every high school and university, that the Earth developed in 4.6 billion years, turning at its current size, with a supercontinent and continental drift. The concept of expansion will challenge many readers' knowledge of the Earth's development. Yet, even the look of today's Earth suggests a very different course of development. Now with a live model of expansion and an approach that rationalises the planet's features, readers may re-evaluate the tenets of traditional thought. This model demonstrates that the continents originated from the uniform crust of a smaller Earth. The continents separated, and the crest pattern developed, not as a result of drifting, but as a consequence of being the features of an expanding surface. THE BASICS OF EXPANSION When a spherical object expands radially, any object on its surface will maintain its position. The object does not move laterally on the surface. It maintains position naturally because it has a neutral tangent point which follows a conceptual radial line to the centre of the sphere. The tangent point does not move from this centre line during expansion and thus prevents the object from moving. Expansion merely extends the radial line and the object remains anchored in place; the object is simply transported on the expanding surface, along the radial line. The principle is simple and apparent with a basic demonstration. Choose a flat piece of broken balloon and hold its edges in two hands. Have another person centre a slightly weighty object upon it. Stretch the rubber. Notice that the object remains centred. With any object heavier than a feather the result is the same. That unmoving centre point on the stretching rubber is a neutral tangent point. The same principles apply for the Earth. The planet -- a sphere -- has on its surface the continents, each with a neutral tangent point and radial line to the centre of the planet. In Earth expansion, the continents do not move from their radial centre lines. They do not drift across the planet surface. If the Earth has expanded, then its magma, being flexible, must have flown underneath the continents in a systematic pattern. The basic premise of the demonstration is that the underlying magma is stretched by expansion in a systematic spread from each continent's neutral tangent point, leaving individual continent placement unaffected. Thus, the continents do not move from their correlated positions. Top | Main | Model Construction