02.04.2013 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

ii4<br />

EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST<br />

pressure on the rock below will be relieved, and the rock<br />

will resume a liquid state. If the arching results in cracking<br />

at the surface, or in sufficient lateral squeezing <strong>of</strong> the liquid<br />

pockets, eruption may take place. This effect may account for<br />

the vast masses <strong>of</strong> igneous rock that are found associated with<br />

the folded mountain ranges (215:58), but it is necessary to<br />

ask the question, What causes the arching <strong>of</strong> the crust? Ob-<br />

viously, volcanism, according to this theory,<br />

must be traced<br />

to the cause <strong>of</strong> the arching. Hobbs's theory is not very satis-<br />

factory because he cannot explain the arching.<br />

It is clear that volcanism might occur as the result either<br />

<strong>of</strong> the process imagined <strong>by</strong> Day or <strong>of</strong> that imagined <strong>by</strong> Hobbs,<br />

for several different causes might produce liquid pockets in<br />

the crust. But it is equally clear that neither they nor Daly<br />

has advanced a theory to account for volcanoes, volcanic<br />

zones, plateau basalts, and volcanic mountains. Einstein,<br />

when he first received some material outlining the theory<br />

proposed in this book, wrote me that it was the only theory<br />

he had ever seen that could explain the volcanic zones (128).<br />

<strong>The</strong>se, <strong>of</strong> course, can be explained as zones <strong>of</strong> fracture (such<br />

as the rift valleys just mentioned) resulting from crust dis-<br />

placements.<br />

7. <strong>The</strong> Volcanic Island Arcs<br />

Campbell has suggested an explanation for the formation<br />

<strong>of</strong> the volcanic island arcs, so many <strong>of</strong> which are found in<br />

the Pacific, and which consist <strong>of</strong> chains <strong>of</strong> volcanic moun-<br />

tains in the sea. He shows not only how our theory <strong>of</strong> crust<br />

displacement may<br />

canic mountains but also how it may<br />

currence in graceful curves:<br />

account for the formation <strong>of</strong> these vol-<br />

account for their oc-<br />

As a sector <strong>of</strong> the lithosphere, or crust, moves toward the equator,<br />

the motion is fastest and the tension is greatest on the meridian <strong>of</strong><br />

movement, and great north-south faults will open up, beginning<br />

there and spreading east and west. At the same time transverse faults

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!