Talk:Continental drift

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[edit] Continental drift term

The best out of this material would suit the 'history' subsection at Plate tectonics instead of being isolated under this antiquated expression, IMO. More findable I think. Wetman 04:42, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Article topic is Wegner's time period

I think that this term is important for its historical value. It is anachronistic to discuss Wegner's theory as plate tectonics, since the term was invented over 30 years after his death. This article should be about the development of the concept of continental drift separately from that of plate tectonics. Although this article needs further work (e.g., Various data) Gwimpey 23:16, 5 May 2004 (UTC)

I am going to add some info on pre-Wegner continental drift hypotheses based on info in Geology in the Nineteenth Century by Mott T. Greene Gwimpey 23:54, 9 May 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Ocean size

I think that the ocean in fact does not get bigger because of plate tectonics. If the magme spreads the plates apart and creates more oceanic crust, then the oceanic plates will just go below other plates and the ocean will get new crust and lose old crust. I do think, however, that the land masses will get bigger from the rifts on the land and the land plates will go over all the oceanic crusted plates.

No, the Pacific ocean is in fact getting smaller. This is because it has more convergent than divergent boundaries, so more material is being "destroyed" than "created". Conversly and consequentially, the atlantic ocean is growing because the mid-ocean range goes thorugh the atlantic ocean. The ocean as a whole is not shrinking, if that is what you mean. But specific oceans are shrinking due to their plate boundaries. -Anonymous
Whether ocean gets bigger depends upon everything else. India merging with Asia surely takes less surface area than did a separate India. But various volcanic islands have grown, rivers have dumped sediment, the South Atlantic has moved Africa and South America apart, the Rift valley in Africa is opening, etc. (SEWilco 02:45, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC))

Super-Continent Missconception

Current continental drift theory which suggest a super continent exist on one side of the planet defies the laws of physics. The material that makes up rock is much denser than water. When you examine the current distribution of mass on the planet, and keep in mind the laws of gravity, the bulk of the mass exist in quasi pyramid structure which is a result of the global equalization of these laws. The only way a mass continent would be formed would be if the earths crusts was too thick for the continental drift to even work(mass of the super continent is insignificant in comparison to the relative mass of each existing crust-really thick) . Redistribution of the oceans is a constant that happens and should be calculated into any and all standing theroms.
This argument is false. The Earth's continents and oceans would have been in isostatic equilibrium, for the most part (as they are today). The mass of a section of continental lithosphere and oceanic lithosphere, down to the same depth in the mantle, even out with time due to the relatively low viscosity of the asthenosphere.Adrock828 11:31, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

VIKTORIA SIUHA GR 8

hi i am viktoria and i think that the ocean is about the half size of the world cause the earth is half water and it can not get bigger cause of its plate crusts and hopefully one day we will all get the chance two really explor just how big is the ocean
Please stay on topic, and for the love of my sanity, use proper grammar and spelling.

[edit] Subarticle?

There is a link stating that this is a subarticle of plate tectonics [1] but this article contains a link stating that plate tectonics is a subarticle of this article.[2] Is this article a subarticle? (SEWilco 5 July 2005 07:26 (UTC))

[edit] Sunken Continents vs. Continental Drift

My edition is not 'original research' as every sentence and conception conveyed is sourced, and less even are 'inappropriate'. The articles are scientific peer-reviewed; due to deletions in this and other articles I copy it to here for those who really want to make scientific research and not scientific politics. Regards --GalaazV 23:56, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

See main article Vertical tectonics.

Continental drift theory far from being a simple, elegant, all-embracing global theory, it is confronted with a multitude of observational anomalies, and has had to be patched up with a complex variety of ad-hoc modifications and auxiliary hypotheses. The existence of deep continental roots and the absence of a continuous, global asthenosphere to 'lubricate' plate motions, have rendered the classical model of plate movements untenable. There is no consensus on the thickness of the 'plates' and no certainty as to the forces responsible for their supposed movement. The hypotheses of large-scale continental drift, seafloor spreading and subduction, and the relative youth of the oceanic crust are contradicted by a considerable volume of data. Evidence for substantial vertical crustal movements and for significant amounts of submerged continental crust in the present-day oceans poses another major challenge to plate tectonics.

A major new hypothesis of geodynamics [3] is surge tectonics, which rejects both seafloor spreading and continental drift. Surge tectonics postulates that all the major features of the earth's surface, including rifts, foldbelts, metamorphic belts, and strike-slip zones, are underlain by shallow (less than 80 km) magma chambers and channels (known as 'surge channels'). Seismotomographic data suggest that surge channels form an interconnected worldwide network, which has been dubbed 'the earth's cardiovascular system'. Active surge channels are characterized by high heat flow and microearthquakes. Magma from the asthenosphere flows slowly through active channels at the rate of a few centimeters a year. This horizontal flow is demonstrated by two major surface features: linear, belt-parallel faults, fractures, and fissures; and the division of tectonic belts into fairly uniform segments. The same features characterize all lava flows and tunnels, and have also been observed on Mars, Venus, and several moons of the outer planets. Surge tectonics postulates that the main cause of geodynamics is lithosphere compression, generated by the cooling and contraction of the earth. As compression increases during a geotectonic cycle, it causes the magma to move through a channel in pulsed surges and eventually to rupture it, so that the contents of the channel surge bilaterally upward and outward to initiate tectogenesis. The asthenosphere (in regions where it is present) alternately contracts during periods of tectonic activity and expands during periods of tectonic quiescence. The earth's rotation, combined with differential lag between the more rigid lithosphere above and the more fluid asthenosphere below, causes the fluid or semifluid materials to move predominantly eastward.

References

  1. ^  Pratt, David Sunken Continents versus Continental Drift, Plate Tectonics: A Paradigm Under Threat first published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 307-352, 2000

_______________

Dubious at best. Ref links are to compuserve userpage for one David Pratt. The ref Journal of Scientific Exploration appears to be a place to get your wild ideas and speculations published - peer reviewed by what peers? If it wasn't bunk it would be published in a real journal. The J of Sci Expl. publishes stuff on bigfoot and re-incarnation, unlikely bedfellows for a serious geophysics article. In other words nonsense! Now, there are unanswered questions and plenty of room for new research related to plate tectonics - it is a vibrant living science and new discoveries and controversies are there. If the controversies have validity, they will be published in true peer reviewed journals. I say begone with it - or write an article for it properly labeled as speculation and pseudoscience - along with the flat and/or hollow earthers. Vsmith 00:48, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
I agree. It seems strange to me. Bubba73 (talk), 01:09, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
The subject matters published in the journal are immaterial to the validity of the theory, which is lacking. A better rebuttal is that every observation is against it. Thus, it's junk. A nice fiction, yes, but a fiction nonetheless. Whether or not Atlantis did exist has nothing to do with the validity of this theory, that's for sure. Why don't we notice the continents now sinking down or rising up? Because maybe they don't do that? Hmm... "Vertical tectonics" = "Vertical bunk". Oh, and Plato never said Atlantis was a continent, too... 170.215.83.4 00:04, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
After a bit more looking at D. Pratt's c-serve page, I'd say add the nonsense to Theosophy - check out his site, hilarious [4] :-) Vsmith 01:20, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] first?

The article opens "Continental drift, first proposed as a theory by Alfred Wegener". According to Drifting continents and shifting theories by H. E. LeGrand, Wegener was not the first to propose drift. He gives a very interesting history. I'm up to chapter 5 in the book, but there are quite a few things about (1) the history and (2) Wegener's evidence that I intend to put in the article. Bubba73 (talk), 04:52, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Permo-Carboniferous

I think this section should be moved to the main article Permo-Carboniferous. Solarapex 01:31, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. I modified the section here to include only the evidence for continental drift, and now I'm going to see if anything I deleted here should go in the Permo-Carboniferous article. Cheers Geologyguy 02:20, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree, Geologyguy, I think that you are completely correct about Permo-Carboniferous.

[edit] Cleanup for references section requested

References contain <references/> and then a bulleted list of references. The bulleted list contents should be moved up into the text to be referenced properly. Said: Rursus 12:03, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mantovani

Its remarkable to see that Roberto Mantovani construct the entire theory of Plate Tectonics When Wegener was only 9 Years old, and the wegener got the recognition for it !! Roberto Mantovani gave the theory of Continental drift to the world, and now Wegener is the father of it !!?? Furthermore is remarkable that there are no references to Mantovani in the WIKIPEDIA WEGENER Biography !? The truth is that Mantovani established the theory of plate tectonics in its entirety, Wegenr made a copy Of it and come out with the same identical theory ( in his own word Mantovanis work on Continental drift was remarkably similar !! ) And noe wegener takes the glory for it !! Indeed both man were erroneous when describing the Mechanism responsible for the drifting of continents, and took some 70 years after mantovanis Death with the development of Seismic, gravity and magnetic and computer science to be able to shape the science of continental drift. Wegener was not honest when he wrote the note as to Mantovanis work, for he never said that He took Mantovanis theory and became a prominent Follower. Weger embarked to offer a different view as to the Mechanisms responsable for Continental Drift. Wegener in changing montovani idea of thermal expansion Proposed a theory for far more incorrect, one of centrifugal force ………….“being the responsible factor for explaining continental drift“ !!!! But I would go further to prove the injustice toward Mantovanis recognition of his revolutionary work, by taking WIKIPEDIA historians to look at the Alfred Wegener page !! There is no clear reference to Roberto Mantovani when addressing The historical development of the so called ………… "WEGENER THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT” !!!! Is like looking into the history of the development of quantum mechanics and not mentioning Heisenberg !!?? …………..or……….. …….. Looking into the history page of Wolfang Pauli on WIKIPEDIA and not finding Reference to Heisenberg !!?? 86.136.16.132 22:40, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Well it's true that Mantovani seems to be the first one to propose the supercontinent Pangaea. But his expanding earth theory itself is (according to the scientific community) completely wrong, and so there is a big difference between his model ant that of Taylor and Wegener. However, I agree that it's important to mention him in the article, so I included a passage. --D.H (talk) 16:34, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

After reading this article, it seems that this is turning into a "who thought it up first" pissing contest. Each paragraph seems to one up the previous one with who came up with the idea first. People who do this clearly have no idea how real science functions. In science, no one 100% "invents" or "discover" something in total isolation of previous knowledge. Like it or not, Wegener is the most well known proponent of this theory. By all means, mention all his predecessors but don't let narrow parochialism ruin this article. 5 March 2008

[edit] Scientific method

The following part bothers me, as it seems an unnecessary attack on Wegener's fellow scientists: "For their part, the geologists ignored Wegener's copious body of evidence, allowing their adherence to a theory to override the actual data, when the scientific method would seem to demand the reverse approach." Pray, what was the theory that other geologists boneheadedly adhered to? The Theory of Continents Being Stuck in Place? Wegener had plenty of data, but no underlying theory that could explain them. Lacking an explanation, other scientists were quite right to be doubtful - and to keep researching. As a loose parallel, consider modern-day pseudoscientists: parapsychologists and homeopaths have gathered huge amounts of data about their disciplines, but scientists are right in dismissing them until somebody can come up with a theory that can actually be tested, and that can make predictions. (There are also doubts about their data-gathering methodology being flawed, since pseudoscientists usually gather anecdotes.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rizzardi (talk • contribs) 11:43, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Stupid Question (future movement)

Hello. Im just wondering if there is any article on wikipedia (or elsewhere for that matter) where I get access to future predictions on how the continents and the world will develop. Ive been browsing this article, the physical geography article and affiliated articles to that, and also geology articles without any result. Maybe I still missed it, and this whole question is kind of an embarrasment? MB - 18 April 2008

The Paleomap project website gives predicted plate configurations 50, 100 & 250 Ma in the future http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm . Mikenorton (talk) 10:55, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
Thank you! MB - 19 April 2008

[edit] Continued vandalism

If there is a lot of vandalism, there is always the option of having an article semi-protected. I've had this article on my watchlist, and I would be inclined to consider this necessary here. If this is the view of other editors, too, I can write the necessary comment on the appropriate noticeboard. Zara1709 (talk) 03:40, 29 May 2008 (UTC)