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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Did Plate Tectonics Start with a Bang?
Author(s)
David M. Moerdyk
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2193/2018.03.001
Affiliation(s)
ABSTRACT
Is it coincidence that two of the largest outpourings of lava in Earth’s
history, the Deccan Traps and Siberian Traps, occurred simultaneously with the
Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) and Permian-Triassic (PT) extinctions respectively?
Either the outpourings of lava caused the extinctions or what caused the
extinctions caused the lava outpourings. It is proposed that the primary cause
of both extinctions is a bolide impact and that the traps are the antipodal
outpourings caused by the impacts. Is it coincidence that the Hawaiian Hotspot
lies in the middle of the Pacific Basin? The formation of the hotspot must be
related to the formation of the basin. It is proposed that a very large bolide
impact created both the Hawaiian Hotspot and the Pacific Basin. These
propositions infer several corollaries. The Earth first formed a global
continental crust. This global crust lasted until a bolide impact destroyed 2/3
of it to form the Pacific Basin and Hawaiian Hotspot. The impact also caused
the PT extinction and the eruption of the Siberian Traps. Subduction plate
tectonics did not operate on Earth until the basin crust became negatively
buoyant and began to subduct. The KT impact was a smaller version of the PT
impact. It broke up crust off the west coast of North America and formed the
Yellowstone Hotspot. It also caused the KT extinction and the eruption of the
Deccan Traps.
KEYWORDS
Plate tectonics, hot spot, keel, crustal evolution.
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