The Earth’s core spins independently
Posted by Luke Schierer under plate tectonics | Permalink | | Leave A Comment
I need to read Deep Hot Biosphere[1] again. I no longer remember his ideas well enough to know how they would mesh with seismic evidence that the Earth’s core is rotating faster than the surface is.[2] This, and related research that shows that the mantle is also spinning faster, provides at least some proof for the plate tectonics theory that I dislike. It at very least demonstrates that there are three layers to the Earth’s structure, which is a prerequisite of plate tectonics. It does not, however, demonstrate that the crust is split into segments that move independently or semi-independently. It would, in fact, seem rather hard to make a categorical statement that the crust is rotating at any single speed, if different segments of it are in fact moving in different directions. This would, however, be dismissed as simply an average speed that averages out, necessarily, to a speed in the same direction the Earth rotates. Earthquakes and mid-plate faults remain the strongest flaw in plate tectonics.
[1] Gold, Thomas. Deep Hot Biosphere (Springer, 1998 ISBN: 038798546) Some information on this scientist can be found at the Wikipedia entry. The Web Archive fortunately preserves his home page here.
[2] Than, Ker. “Earth’s Core Rotates Faster than Surface, Study Confirms” Live Science (online). 2005-08-25 http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050825_earthcore.html
2 Responses to “The Earth’s core spins independently”
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I don’t think Thos. Gold disagrees with an iron core existing. It spinning faster than the rest of the earth’s stuff somehow would have to have something to do with the fluctuations in earth’s electromagnetic field. Care to borrow the book again?
I own the book, I just need to find time to read it. And yes, the traditional theory puts the spinning core as the cause of the fluctuations (I do not believe that it is required that it be spinning faster for the fluctuations to occur, just that the core not be uniform).