Journal of Petroleum Geology, Vol.8,
No.4, pp. 373-388, 1985
©Copyright 2000 Scientific Press,
Ltd.
PLATE TECTONICS WITH FIXED
CONTINENTS: A TESTABLE HYPOTHESIS
Paul D. Lowman Jr.*
* Geophysics Branch, Code 622,
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Ma. 20771, USA.
Abstract
This paper proposes that plate-tectonic
processes do not necessarily cause continental drift, and that
sialic blocks the size of Australia or larger are fixed relative
to each other. Continental drift has not yet been geodetically
demonstrated and the geologic evidence for it has been repeatedly
challenged or refuted. New lines of evidence presented here
against drift include: absence of the low-velocity zone under
Shields; deep continental lithospheric roots; absence of
continental hot-spot trails; absence of significant offset
between Greenland and Ellesmere Island; internal contradictions
in paleomagnetic data, and between paleomagnetic and
paleogeographic data; Cenozoic tectonism and horizontal
compression at supposed passive margins; and absence of an
adequate plate-driving force for plates with continental
(non-subductable) leading edges. The hypothesis of plate
tectonics with fixed continents predicts that high-precision
geodetic measurements now in progress will find no separation of
Eurasia and North America no matter how long they are continued.
It implies some form of slow subduction at supposed passive
margins such as the east coast of North America.