Gary sent in a link to this story at www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9192955/ … but you can also read it at https://phys.org/news/2021-01-geological-phenomenon-widening-atlantic-oc… … but the Daily Mail has more pictures. Apparently, we are told, an upsurge of 'matter' from deep within the earth's crust may be pulling the continents of North and South America further apart from Europe and Africa, according to a new research study at www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03139-x … This is classic Plate Tectonics theory, in one way, as the claim is the movement is just 4cm per year, but apparently undetectable by GPS systems. It is a very uniformitarian process, such a small movement. Very slow. Don't want to upset the plebs. The Mid Atlantic Ridge was the centre of the research, and its tectonic processes. This is thought to be the dividing line between the widening process. One side of it moving eastwards and the other side moving westwards, with a dribble of new lava from the innards of the earth a constant feature on the ridge. In fact, the ridge is where the whole concept of Plate Tectonics development, back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It seemed fairly easy to think in terms of movement either side of the ridge as they discovered magnetic stripes on the ocean floor. Of course, the same evidence would apply if the earth was expanding as after all there are no obvious subduction zones on either side of the Atlantic. In fact, the opposite as there are large submerged continental shelf systems off western Europe and North America. Does this mean the Pacific is shrinking?
The main point to take from this research is that the process of how the Atlantic expands has been something of a mystery. You would not know that from textbooks or forums discussing geological processes. They always claim they know how it works and Joe Public should just accept the story line. However, this study makes clear that the process is and has been a mystery – and there are other ones they have to explain, but are currently under wraps. Kept out of sight in case it breeds scepticism. One of those is obviously how the Atlantic expands but the earth doesn't grow.
A team of scientists spent ten weeks at sea in the vicinity of the Mid Atlantic Ridge and documented evidence of upwelling from below. In Plate Tectonics theory as it is currently being taught, the new seabed material, or old fashioned lava, come from a region around 60m below the crust. In the new study they claim it comes from 600m below, a big difference. The research itself is excellent, and if geology is your interest, well worth a read at the Nature link. One wonders how much of the upwelling has to do with volcanic processes as we know that islands can appear, and disappear, along the ridge. Is it really proof of widening? Another problem, not mentioned, is that a study a few years ago was insistent that a great deal of the Atlantic seafloor was no older than the Cretaceous – and we all know how that ended. Is there any evidence of a slow process of spread on the sea floor dateable to different periods, such as the Miocene, Pliocene, or Pleistocene. The process over time should be visible rather than just assumed by theory.
Over at https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2021/01/23/earths-outer-shell-ballooned-… … around 3 billion years ago, we are told, the crustal shell of the earth ballooned in what was a massive growth spurt. Does this mean the earth suddenly expanded, or just the continental masses. See also www.livescience.com/earths-crust-growth-spurt.html … crust is a buoyant material sitting on the Mantle. This means it consistently gets an injection of new material rising up from below – from the Mantle. Well, that may explain the first study [above] but a constant addition to the crust is not evidence of Plate Tectonics. Have they really explained one geological mystery or do they need to come up with an explanation that includes several, now admitted, geological mysteries. How substantial is the Plate Tectonics theory – and note the term theory is still applied. Just asking – with tongue in cheek.