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

CONTINENTS AND OCEAN BASINS 1J3
avoiding the issue, which, he observes, is the course too often
taken.
Daly's own guess will not do for us, because it is based both
on the theory of an originally molten globe and on the theory
of drifting continents. He suggests that when the earth was
entirely molten, the lighter rock, which now forms the granitic
foundations of the continents, was floating on top of
the heavier rock, of basaltic composition, and crystallized
whole surface.
first, making a thin layer over the planet's
Then, for some reason (not entirely clear) all this lighter
rock slid toward one hemisphere and piled up, making a
supercontinent. Later this supercontinent broke up and
drifted apart, as suggested by Wegener.
Jeffreys
also refers to the difference between the average
chemical composition of the continents and that of the
ocean floors. There is a difference in the densities of the two
kinds of rock, and this is the reason why
the continents stand
high and the ocean beds are low. But what brought about
this difference of composition is itself unexplained. It is, says
Jeffreys,
. . . closely connected with the great problem of the origin of the
division of the earth's surface into continents and ocean basins, which
has not yet received any convincing explanation (239:159).
Professor Umbgrove also has admitted that the field is
wide open to any reasonable speculation. He feels that he
is confined to mere guessing, but justifies what he writes
thus:
. . . But why should we not enter [this field] if everyone who wants
to join us in our geopoetic expedition into the unknown realm of the
earth's early infancy is warned at the beginning that probably not a
single step can be placed on solid ground? (430:241).
In view of this state of affairs, I shall not apologize if, at
times, in the course of this and the following chapter, I shall
seem to the reader to be venturing beyond the point where
speculation can be immediately checked by the facts. To a
certain extent, my suggestions will be simply logical deduc-