A Geological Dilemma
Fig. 1 Lithospheric motion relative to mantle. (Differential Rotation Between Lithosphere and Mantle … Ricardi, Yanick et al JGR May 1991)
For decades geologists have been quietly struggling to explain the motion of the lithosphere, the outer shell of the Earth, relative to the interior or mantle. Differential motion of the two should not constitute a mystery since plate tectonics allows plates in the lithosphere to move in response to local forces. Thus a slippery or lower viscosity layer, called the asthenosphere (without strength), is an accepted feature. However, as more study has been done, including measurements from satellites it has become clear that the entire lithosphere is apparently moving westward as a unit, known to geologists as the ‘toroidal field of degree 1’. Geological clues to this are the movement of ocean island hotspots and the fact that subduction, the over-riding of the coastal continental plates by the ocean bottom plate occuring predominantly on their western coastlines. The most intractable dilemma arises from the analysis published in 2006, that the motion follows a ‘tectonic mainstream’ in which the latitude is simply a
Fig. 2 Comparison of eastward and more common westward dipping subduction zones.
first order sinusoid with respect to longitude. This analysis does not constrain the velocity of the relative motion, but favors a surprisingly high value of 13.4 cm/year. This high a speed contradicts every theoretical calculation of the viscosity of the asthenosphere, based primarily on rheology. However, new S and P seismic tools developed by the petroleum industry are being adopted by geologists and are able to see deeper and evidence favoring much lower viscosity at the base of the lithosphere. The controversy currently hinges on whether this rapid, pure sinusoidal motion violates the ‘standard model’ of geology or should be termed a ‘mean lithospheric motion’ because there are several plate boundaries that are moving eastward. Several ‘standard model’ claims concerning the various flows range from the last million years to the Permian 250 to 298 million years BP. One statement concerning the controversy is: ” … even if the occurrence of a westerly polarized lithosphere motion cannot be considered at present a controversial phenomenon, we feel that its origin is not yet completely clear.” There has been some discussion of the potential role of tidal drag on the lithosphere, say by the Moon, whe orbit of which extends to +/- 28 degrees declination, but it is orders of magnitude too small to have any significant effect.
Cyclic Catastrophism Solves the Dilemma
The Cyclic Catastrophism scenario, originally published in 1996, began with four sudden, complete overturnings or inversions of the spin axis of the lithosphere due to close passes of massive bodies to the Earth. The first two delineated the Younger Dryas stadial and the second two occurred within a century, around 4000 BC, were close passes of proto-Venus shortly after its birth from an impact on Jupiter. Each pass exerted a transient tidal impulse on the Tibetan-Himalayan Complex, a huge mass anomaly imbedded in the lithosphere. The effects of these inversions were related to Solon the Greek by Egyptian priests at Sais, according to Plato’s Conversations of Timeaus and Critius. These inversions enormously increased the temperature of the asthenosphere, lowering its viscosity in preparation for the subsequent long-term encounters with Mars.
Soon after this proto-Venus gravitationally ‘sheparded’ Mars, at that date full of life in a Venus-like orbit, to the vicinity of the Earth where both entered orbits similar ot those shown in Figure 3. Mars was captured on the night of Nov. 1 when it became tidally locked onto the Tibetan-Himalayan Complex, directly above Mt. Kailas, called “Indra’s Home on Earth” in the Rg Veda. This huge inertial mass linked to the lithosphere at Kailas, resulted in Kailas, therefore the entire lithosphere of the Earth on which we live, rotating with Mars in the ecliptic plane, the plane of the solar system, throughout each 14.4 year kalpa. The moment due to Mars’ great mass forced the lithosphere to rotate slower and about an axis in what is now central Canada (61º N, 100º W) with the asthenosphere, having been heated by two recent overturnings (inversions) by proto-Venus, acting as a very low viscosity bearing. In this process the excess orbital angular momentum of Mars was ‘stored’ in the rotation of the lithosphere and released 14.4 years (a manvantara in the Rg Veda) later at the vernal equinox, when it re-entered its holding orbit where it remained for 15.6 years.
Mars orbited with the lithosphere only some 33,500 km above the Himalayas. This enormous mass so close to the Earth for a total of 1,500 years, completely changed the surface of our planet to a degree which cannot be imagined in modern times. For example, during each kalpa land masses, such as southern India, normally in the northern hemisphere spent the entire time in the reverse magnetic field of the Earth, therefore rock bodies extruded during these periods, like the Deccan Traps, acquired reverse magnetic field orientations. This is currently imagined to show that the Indian plate was in the position of the Reunion ‘hotspot’ when the Deccan Traps were formed consequently dating them at 66 million years BP. Each time Mars was released (for 15.6 years) the lithosphere went back to its normal alignment and rotational speed.
The slower rotation of the lithosphere during each kalpa is corroborated by the archaeological discovery of calendars with both 360 and 365.25 days per year in the oldest cultures. The slower rotation meant that (a) it moved westward relative to the mantle at 7 m/sec plus (b) at an angle of 31 degrees due to the southward displacement of Mt. Kailas currently at 31 N to the ecliptic plane, meaning that the actual velocity was 7.7 m/sec. The forcing of Mt. Kailas to the ecliptic plane resulted in the northern rotation axis of the lithosphere moving to what is now central Canada (61 N, 100 W) and the south pole of this axis was in the southern pacific where the hotspots are more obvious. The primarily westward motion of the lithosphere relative to the low viscosity asthenosphere resulted in the subduction zones or the western boundaries of most large continents recognized by geologists in modern times. More significantly, the continuing fresh flow of magma from the hot asthenosphere intruded up into the interiors of the continents wherever they were weak or shallow forming plutons, many of which still extend too deep to be detected seismically. These unique movements of the lithosphere produced granite mountain ranges found nowhere else in the solar system, the origin of which has never been understood in conventional geology.
The great circle that was Kailas’s equatorial path during each encounter, became the great circle which defines the current, mysterious sinusoidal path of westward lithosphere motion. During the Mars encounters, there were no seasonal variations on the Earth. As a result, (now) central Canada became covered with a huge continental glacier which extended as far south as Pennsylvania. The recent presence of this glaciation is evidenced by the isostatic rebound at that location, the fastest in the world.
