One of the longest running and most controversial theories in geology is the Expanding Earth theory. From the earliest school classes to the most advanced university geology lectures we are all taught that the size of the Earth has been constant and unchanging for thousands of millions of years, so virtually everyone is astonished when first presented with evidence for an Expanding Earth.
Some people are so shocked by the array of observations supporting an Expanding Earth model they simply deny there is any evidence for expansion. This rejection of the observations can become very animated at times but a few people are sufficiently curious to carefully investigate the facts indicating that the Earth has expanded over geological time. Some of the more well known investigators into the Expanding Earth theory are professors of geology and other sciences, who continue to examine the supporting evidence and report the results of their observations in
various scientific papers and
books. This
history of the Expanding Earth theory is still developing today as these new scientific observations are examined and debated.
The most widely known geological evidence for Earth expansion is a simple reconstruction of the continents and ocean floor like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. The continents are ancient and some regions have existed for more than 3,800 million years but in geological time scales the ocean floor is relatively young and ranges from only about 200 million years old at the continents to areas at the mid-ocean ridges that are still forming today. When the dinosaurs first evolved none of today's ocean floor existed.
If we reconstruct maps we can clearly see the problem. The map below shows all the newer ocean floor up to 65 million years ago removed on an Earth of today’s dimensions. It clearly leaves vast gaps in the reconstruction. The problem becomes worse as we go further back in time as more and more ocean floor disappears.
This ancient ocean floor and the continents can be rejoined together by placing them on a smaller diameter Earth. They all fit together neatly in one continuous shell.
It would be remarkable if this process could be progressively continued into the past but this is exactly what happens. If we remove all the ocean floor that didn't exist 10 million years ago, the ocean floor and continents join together on a slightly smaller diameter Earth. If the process is repeated by removing all the ocean floor that didn't exist 20 million years ago, all the remaining ocean floor and continents can once again be joined together - but this time the diameter of the Earth must be smaller than it was 10 million years previously.
This process of removing parts of the ocean floor that didn't exist in the past can be repeated at all time intervals up to 200 million years to slowly reduce the size of the Earth as it becomes more ancient. Eventually only the ancient continents are left and these can be joined together to form a continuous continental shell on an ancient smaller diameter Earth.
The animated Expanding Earth reconstruction shown below is taken from a computer program I wrote in the 1990’s to test the concept of Earth expansion. It used spherical trigonometry to try to obtain the most accurate results. The reconstructions were good enough to convince me to continue researching this concept. Comparing more recent Rotating Globes of Plate and Expansion Tectonic reconstructions as shown in a series of videos is even more convincing.
Consider how unlikely it is that the entire ancient ocean floor fits together so precisely to form a complete sphere on the ancient Earth. If the missing ancient ocean floor had been generated by any other process than an Expanding Earth it would be improbable that the areas were the exact shapes required to reconstruct a smaller Earth. It would be more likely that irregular shapes that didn't fit together would exist. Calculations show the improbability of the continents and ocean floor forming exactly the size and shape to reconstruct an Expanding Earth by chance alone. It is similar to arguing that a jigsaw puzzle fits together by chance rather than for any logical reason.
One major unknown about the Expanding Earth theory is the reason why the Earth has expanded. What could possibly cause this massive increase in the size of the Earth? Various people had different suggestions. Professor Jordan suggested in his book, The Expanding Earth, that the force of universal gravity might be changing thereby allowing the Earth to expand. Professor Carey preferred new mass being generated within the Earth in his book, Theories of the Earth and Universe: A History of Dogma in the Earth Sciences. Dr Hugh Owen suggested in his book, Atlas of Continental Displacement, 200 Million Years to the Present: A Test of the Conventional and Expanding Earth Models, that there was a phase change in the Earth's core that produced a volume change in the Earth while the mass stayed the same. These books are still available (with difficulty) from good bookshops.[1]
But none of these theories won general favour over the others even amongst the supporters of an Expanding Earth. A change in universal gravity was generally considered the least likely, and the most popular reasons to explain the Expanding Earth were grouped into explanations that allowed the Earth to expand with a constant mass, or were it expanded with an increasing mass. These two major variations of the Expanding Earth theory became known as the Constant Mass Expanding Earth or the Increasing Mass Expanding Earth.
This is why the dinosaurs' large size is so interesting for the Expanding Earth theory. In 1987 I realized that the dinosaurs' large size could be explained by a reduced gravity and then soon realized that the most likely cause of a reduced gravity was a smaller diameter, less massive Earth.
I'd never heard of the Expanding Earth theory before reasoning that the dinosaurs must live in a reduced gravity, but when I did learn about the geological evidence for an Expanding Earth it was soon evident that a Reduced Gravity Earth is exactly what an Increasing Mass Expanding Earth also predicted. Both theories use very different lines of reasoning and evidence but they both point to the same astonishing conclusions.
By the early 1990s I had produced my own Expanding Earth reconstructions with a computer program using spherical trigonometry as shown above. Other people had produced similar reconstructions before - there are even more today - and one of the most convincing aspects of the Expanding Earth theory must be that these reconstructions all look so alike. It must surely provide reassurance that the reconstructions are reasonably accurate.
Some of the best reconstructions available today are on YouTube as short Expanding Earth videos. Neal Adams’ reconstructions are popular but the Australian geologist Dr James Maxlow’s reconstructions also have the added advantage that the geological evidence behind the reconstructions are explained in detail within his books and web site.[2]
If you would like to try to produce your own reconstructions the raw data for the age of the ocean floor can be obtained from institutions like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).[3] NOAA is presenting the raw data of the age of the ocean floor and is not supporting the Expanding Earth theory in any way so exactly the same raw data is used in plate tectonic reconstructions.
By 1994 I had also joined the ever growing number of authors that supported the Expanding Earth with the publication of my book, Dinosaurs and the Expanding Earth. This received praise from various sources and many noted the significance of the evidence predicting a Reduced Gravity Earth and its implications for the Expanding Earth. The most likely explanation for the Expanding Earth is an Increasing Mass Expanding Earth.
Today some of the evidence for the concept of dinosaurs living in reduced gravity has been repeated in many scientific papers and books including, Earth Universe Cosmos, Terra Non Firma Earth, Gravity and Expanding Earth - and the book list is still growing.
If the Increasing Mass Expanding Earth is the correct solution for the evidence, then were has the extra mass come from? I suggested the most logical explanation is that cosmic material regularly adds extra mass to the Earth. Yearly ‘cosmic showers’ adds small amounts of materials over short periods, but over geological time we know there are ‘cosmic storms’ that must add vast amounts of new material. This cosmic material is transported by geological processes that we observe today (erosion, sediment transport and subduction), into the interior of the Earth where it separates out into lighter and heavier elements. My book describes the evidence for all this in greater detail.
Various other people have also suggested a number of different possible reasons for a mass increase. Today this key unknown about the Expanding Earth theory is still in a state of flux about which increasing mass process is more likely and the discussions are still continuing today. In September 2011 a week long conference, organised by Giancarlo Scalera and Stefan Cwojdzinski with James Maxlow as the lead presenter, was held at the International School of Geophysics in Erice to discuss the latest research.[4,5,6] This cross-discipline conference allowed a range of scientists, engineers and others to present papers centred on the Expanding Earth theory and these have been further developed and explored in the post conference book The Earth Expansion Evidence.[7,8] In August 2012, further papers about recent progress in the Expanding Earth theory were also presented at an International Geological Congress held in Brisbane.
I was able to present my evidence for a reduced palaeogravity at the The Earth Expansion Evidence conference. The paper, Ancient Life's Gravity and its Implications for the Expanding Earth, has proven to be very popular. It explains how to calculate palaeogravity and how this implies Earth expansion is caused by a mass increase.
The discussions about palaeogravity and Earth Expansion continue each year with regular new science papers, books and web resources. I’ve written a Yearly Review of Earth Expansion and Palaeogravity for the last few years. These yearly reviews show just how actively these subjects are currently being researched around the world.
