Posted on 02/29/2008 6:07:27 PM PST by forkinsocket
For years, scientists have known that continents float around on the Earth's surface like ice bergs on the ocean. But what happens deep beneath our feet? A new theory envisions graveyards for continents and a life cycle not unlike the weather.
He dispenses with the usual Japanese greeting ritual. Business cards presented with both hands, bowing, drinking tea -- there's no time for such formalities. He has to explain the history of the planet, nearly five billion years, in just one hour.
"Hi, I'm Shige," he says, waving his hands in the air. Then he dashes into his office, a researcher's warren on the campus of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, jam-packed with piles of paper, hiking boots, posters, rock samples and a couch with a sleeping bag. Shige is an unbridled enthusiast, a pioneer and a brilliant polymath.
Shige's full name is Maruyama Shigenori. In Japan, it's customary to refer to one's family name first. Maruyama is a passionate collector who has gathered 160,000 minerals and exhibited them in a museum. He is also one of the world's leading geophysicists. His academic articles rank among the most cited in his field, and his works are found in many geological reference libraries.
Yet despite this widespread recognition, this Japanese researcher in his late 50s continuously provokes controversy in the academic world with his bold hypotheses. Currently, he is stirring things up with a new fascinating theory on the lifecycle of the Earth's crust.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Some interesting twists on current theories, but fundamentally nothing new. The article seems to be as much about the scientist as the subject.
A very unsettled theory. Al Gore has neither ruled on it, nor added it to his price list.
A great question to answer would be why such upwelling seems to be so regular and so limited.
Given the vast amount of energy involved, it would seem that supervolcanoes would be the norm, not the exception. Yet since that is not the case, then why does the world sometimes get supervolcanoes?
Even such a grand planetary feature as the ring of fire around the Pacific is mystifying. First of all is its continuity, except right in the middle where Hawaii pokes through. Volcanoes on its East side tend to spew great belches of ash like Mount St. Helens; on its West side, volcanoes are brittle, and break apart with great force, like Krakatoa.
Not too long ago, again in the Pacific northwest, the equivalent of gigantic underground islands of rock, many miles across, were discovered to act like immense bearings between two continental plates. The northwest volcanoes happen on the edge of one of these rock bearings.
Yet relatively speaking, they are pretty shallow to be causing volcanoes, at least based on traditional theory.
Many, many questions. Tectonics is such a young science.
Funny, I know a guy that calls himself Shige (Shi-gay). Family name is Shigitomo. Exceptional young man with a PE in Structural Engineering from the U of Tokyo. Worked for Hitachi's Power Systems construction unit. Played American Football at Tokyo. The biggest Japanese engineer on the project. Loved BBQ ribs.
"You have leeb for Shige?"
“For years, scientists have known that continents float around on the Earth’s surface like ice bergs on the ocean.”
B.S.
For this to be true, the Earth’s mantle would have to be exposed everywhere under the sea.
The continental plates all butt up against each other. The gap between them is the ‘ring of fire’.
THe only movement they make is that they ‘grow’ from the expansion of the Earth, and their ‘surfaces’ move up and down.
Some places that are way above ‘sea level’ now, used to be the bottom of an ocean.
For instance, the middle of the U.S.
The top of Mount Everest used to be at the bottom of an ocean.
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