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

EARTHQUAKES Expulsion and expansion would inflict the area of the Pacific with a tremendous amount of stress. The combination of a thin ocean floor, surrounding land side-swept into mountains, and the stretch of expansion, creates an area of considerable vulnerability, one naturally susceptible to earthquakes. Consequently, the model provides a medium to explain the volatility of the Ring of Fire. An expansion of these coagulated, solidified and stressed mountain ranges, 10 times thicker than the neighbouring sea floor, would logically cause such an earthquake-prone region. It is ironic that, with all the efforts to predict earthquake epicentres, the attempts are based on plate tectonics and, possibly, the wrong basic movements. It could make a difference if earthquake-prone Japan was understood to be sheared off from the mainland and if the consolidating and reconsolidating stresses were seen as originating from expansion rather than from random propulsion. The sophisticated systems of contemporary seismology still fail to predict the next epicentres. It is doubtful they will ever be completely accurate but, with expansion in mind, they could be improved. Top | Main | An Impact Vision