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 Moon Expulsion The basis for a theory concerning the Earth's geological history, based on the idea that the mass of matter that is now the Moon was originally part of the Earth. A catastrophic event is said to have expelled the Moon from the planet. Associated with Catastrophe Theory or Impact Theory.

THE SEAFARERS' CHALLENGE The discovery of the unknown, be it cosmos or continents, is an inborn craving. As it is today with the infinite universe, so it was five centuries ago as the motivation for sailors, adventurers and explorers. Then, coastal navigation had spread beyond the Mediterranean to reach as far as the Orient. The medieval notion of a flat Earth was (to avoid persecution) only secretly dispelled by the more seasoned sailors. Most crews continued to fear a sudden drop into the abyss. Not until shipwrights produced more adequate vessels was there opportunity to urge King or Queen, town or county, for a mandate and support to sail the treacherous waters that stretched beyond an elusive horizon. After Columbus in 1492, and Amerigo Vespucci in 1497, proved the existence of unknown islands and continents, sailors and citizens wrenched themselves from the flat Earth notion. The quest for riches, power, mission, adventure and possibly plain desperation drove rulers and merchants to support the daring sailors. Recruitment of sailors was eventually done in taverns near harbours with the aid of handcuffs. By hardships it went. Heat or cold, wind and waves. Gales and stills, hunger and thirst, scurvy and beriberi. Perseverance and stubbornness, the only way to success. To this day, one harbour tower in Amsterdam is known as the "Weeping Tower" or "Tower of Tears", a tribute to the emotional tides sailors and their loved ones endured. The survival rate for sailors was less than 40 per cent, if the ship came back at all. There was weeping upon departure and wailing upon arrival. The tower's gable stone tells it all. Guided by pole star and supported by the necessary instruments, the first navigators pinpointed landmarks and ushered in the new cartography. The first information produced imaginary islands, distorted shore lines and disproportional continents. Demand increased for improved instruments. The sailors and navigators accumulated the knowledge through danger, suffering and loss of funds. Crude, ruthless pirates lurked on dark waters. The possibilities of going down, swallowing more salt water than they could stow nailed hand and foot to the deck, made them fight to the utmost if not to death. An ornately dressed, affluent looking person had a chance to escape with ransom money but it was no wonder that a leaning toward secrecy became apparent. Despite the hardships, so much information was gathered that Old World cartography greatly improved within 100 years. Painters, etchers and printers created maps by the thousands, so beautifully that they are considered today as collectors' items. Illustrated borders portrayed impressions of far-off lands. Globes became a fad, appearing in every size. More discoveries led to more detailed cartography and the cycle continued, with better ships, better instruments, better maps. As land masses were defined, philosophers became aware of the correlated features of the Old and New World coastlines. From observation of coastal mountain formations and signs of structural upheaval in the Earth's crust emerged intuitive reasoning that these were the result of abnormal events. By the 16th Century, suggestions were being made that the continents had once been conjoined and were divided catastrophically. Theories about comet interference with the Earth and about Moon expulsion came and went throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries. Of the many map-makers today, the National Geographic Society stands out as one of the best. As well, the map by Tharp and Heezen reproduced in Time-Life Books' Continents in Collision Ref 6 is a revelation for the expansionist. Cartographic accuracy culminates in these detailed maps, made with the most recent instrumentation. Depth is exaggerated in its three-dimensional appearance but, beyond that, the information must be true to available data. Top | Main | Expansion History