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CHAPTER 1.8
CONCLUSIONS FOR THE "SAFE,
CONSERVATIVE" VERSION
Section I of this book presents
the "safe, conservative" version of Ben's Antipodal Impact Theory. This theory
presents the case that antipodal volcanism is the natural result of a large
impact.
Furthermore, by extension, the theory concludes that virtually
all of the major mass extinctions can be explained by the two related events of
large impacts and antipodal volcanism.
This "safe, conservative"
version of Ben's Antipodal Impact Theory is deliberately limited in its scope,
so that it can be compared, side by side, to the Standard Theory, based upon
this limited scope.
The comparison of the "safe, conservative" version
of Ben's Antipodal Impact Theory with the Standard Theory yields the following
differences:
1. Location of India 65 MYA — As far as I
can determine, the location of India 65 MYA is not important to the Standard
Theory, except as a way to explain the massive eruptions at the Deccan traps
(currently seen as the result of India passing over the Reunion hotspot off the
east African coast). If another mechanism for explaining the massive eruptions
of the Deccan traps were discovered, there is no good reason why it could not
replace the current mechanism used by the Standard Theory. The location of
India at the antipode of the Chicxulub impact would meet this criterion if the
mechanism of antipodal volcanism is accepted. Furthermore, this relocation
would solve a number of problems that the currently accepted location does not.
These problems include:
a. Lack of Domal Uplift at the Deccan traps
b. Actual Eruptions occurred at 30 degrees south
c. Underlayment of
basalt under the western side of India and then it just stops.
d. The
creation of the Sunda Trench
e. The timing, shape and composition of the
land in Java and Sumatra
2. Molten Layer of Olivine at the
Mantle/Core Boundary — The Standard Theory hypothesizes occasional pockets
of liquid olivine at the mantle/core boundary. Ben's Antipodal Impact Theory
hypothesizes a layer of liquid rock, rich in olivine, at this boundary. This
layer of liquid olivine is key to the functioning of Ben's antipodal volcanism
mechanism, and it is hardly less likely than occasional pockets that just
happen to occur.
3. Frictional Release Threshold — Ben's Antipodal
Impact Theory hypothesizes the idea that the extreme vibration in the interior
of the mantle (resulting from a large impact) would cause the mantle to reach
its Frictional Release Threshold, at which point liquid olivine, under great
pressure, could be forced through the mantle up to the underside of the
lithosphere, forming a mantle plume. This mechanism would allow large impacts
to create contemporaneous antipodal mantle plumes. A statistical analysis of
the only four large impacts of the last 100 million years (larger than 55 km in
diameter) shows that the chances that these impacts and contemporaneous mantle
plumes near their antipodes are merely random occurances are much less than
16,000,000 to one. The Standard Theory claims that mantle plumes are unrelated
to impacts. Statistical analysis shows that this argument by the Standard
Theory is extremely unlikely.
These are the only
differences between the "safe, conservative" version of Ben's Antipodal Impact
Theory and the Standard Theory.
I would argue that, concerning this
limited scope of antipodal volcanism, Ben's Antipodal Impact Theory offers a
much better fit with the facts than does the current Standard Theory.
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