The Earth's Shifting Crust by Charles Hapgood - wire of information

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EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST
Vening Meinesz summarizes the arguments against the
thermal-contraction hypothesis (the cooling of the earth),
and argues for the second theory. It is interesting, in passing,
to note that one of his arguments against the contraction
of the earth's surface . . . ten-
theory is that "In large parts
sion seems to exist in the crust at the same time that folding
takes place elsewhere, and this fact is difficult to reconcile
with thermal contraction (giving compression) throughout
the crust. . . ." (349:320). He is here saying that the earth's
crust was being stretched in some places and compressed in
others, at the same time, which is inconsistent with the cool-
ing and contracting theory. It is, however, quite consistent
with the crust displacement hypothesis.
Now, as to the subcrustal current hypothesis, we may note
that Meinesz is assuming currents travelling for great dis-
tances horizontally, and moving in great depths of hundreds
of miles below the crust. Naturally, the movement of such
masses of rock could potentially create pressures to stagger
the imagination. Gutenberg discusses the work of many men
who are studying subcrustal currents (194:186, 191). The
chief weakness of the theory is the absence of any real evi-
dence for the existence of such currents. It is suggested, for
example, that thermal convection might account for them,
or chemical changes of state in depth might account for
them, or mechanical factors might be at work, but, mean-
while, there is no real evidence that such currents really
exist. Some geologists have claimed to have found evidence
of cyclonelike patterns in rock structures (194:188), but these
appear to have been of small magnitude; they therefore may
have been formed in small pockets of molten rock. They do
not provide reliable evidence for the existence of gigantic
crust-warping currents, such as would be required for mountain
building.
The problem that we are involved with here is that of the
origin of the geosyncline. Geologists refer to a downward fold
in the crust of major proportions as a geosyncline. An upward
fold (or arch) is a geoanticline. They are sometimes