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A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THIS BOOK
There have been six major (and many minor) extinction events on earth
since the evolution of multicellular life on the earth more than 500 million
years ago (MYA).
The reasons given for these major extinction events
have been many. These many reasons are still put forth by different groups of
scientists, with no clear answer emerging for any one major extinction, much
less for all of them.
I believe that all of the major extinctions and
most of the minor extinctions can be explained by the same phenomenon. This
explanatory phenomenon is: The natural kinetic effects of a cosmic impact on
the planet Earth. However, it is not the impact site of the cosmic impact that
causes the biggest part of a major extinction event. Rather, it is the
devastating, sustained and explosive volcanism that results at the antipode
(the exact opposite side of the earth) of the impact site that does the most
damage. This book introduces a new theory of antipodal impact effects, called
Ben's Antipodal Impact Theory, that will explain the mechanisms that cause both
the geological features created during and after big impacts and how those
geological features cause extinction events.
This book is divided into
two sections.
THE FIRST SECTION
"SAFE,
CONSERVATIVE" VERSION — ANTIPODAL VOLCANISM & MASS
EXTINCTIONS
The first section of this book deals with
antipodal volcanism as the primary cause of the major mass extinctions over the
past 500 million years on Earth.
This first section is based upon
solid, documented theory and backed by statistical analysis.
This first
section will detail a mechanism whereby a large impact can cause volcanism at
or near the antipode of the impact. This section will also provide a
conservative (compared to the speculative explanation in the second section)
explanation of how the Deccan traps were actually located at the antipode of
the Chicxulub impact, instead of more than 4,000 miles away (as located by the
Standard Theory).
This explanation will establish the Chicxulub impact
as the cause of the Deccan traps and the Deccan traps as the cause of the
End-Cretaceous extinction. By extension, the other major mass extinctions are
also likely to be the logical consequence of volcanism at the antipodes of
large impacts.
THE SECOND SECTION
SPECULATIVE THEORY— ANTIPODAL TECTONIC PLATES,
FOLLOW-ON HOTSPOTS & CREATION OF THE MOON
The second
section of this book presents a more speculative (but, in my opinion, more
likely) version of the creation of the Deccan traps as part of a process of
creating an antipodal tectonic plate. The antipodal tectonic plate is created
by the uplifting pressure of the plume head and by shear crack propagation
along the marginal shear pressure boundary.
The second section also
hypothesizes hotspots with directed movement and antipodal continents with
directed movement. Furthermore, it challenges the need for convection currents
as a regular part of every day life in the Earth's mantle.
The second
section will provide likely scenarios for:
Major Mass Extinctions
1. The End-Cretaceous Extinction 65 MYA
2. The Triassic Extinction
202 MYA
3. The Permian Extinction 250 MYA
Creation of
Continents and Their Tectonic Plates
1. India 65 MYA
2. South
America 132 MYA
3. Eastern North America 202 MYA
4. Western Antarctica
214 MYA
5. Siberia 250 MYA
6. Creation of the Moon 4 BYA
I
will present compelling evidence that the volcanism of the Deccan traps in
India actually WAS at the antipode of the Chicxulub impact site 65 MYA (even
though no one has previously been able to show compelling evidence of India
being located at this site).
This is an ambitious book. It seeks to
explain the formation of continents, hotspots, trenches, island arcs and
tectonic movements in novel ways.
The first section of this book
hypothesizes the proposition that kinetic energy transfer from large cosmic
impacts causes major antipodal volcanism. This book proposes that most of the
important results of large impacts occur at and near the antipode of the impact
site.
The second section of this book proposes the idea that continents
are uplifted on the opposite side of the earth during a really big cosmic
impact. Because of the directional nature of the impacts (most impacts occur at
30 degree to 45 degree angles to vertical) and the off-center nature of the
impact, the resulting continental shape is "a blob with a tail." The
directional nature of the impact induces forward motion in those newly formed
continents and also in antipodal hotspots that are not powerful enough to
thrust up a continent.
At least some of the trenches are created as the
earth is ripped apart by passing plates and mini-plates resulting from the
antipodal effect of the impact. This book will create a complete picture of the
Chicxulub antipodal "smoking gun." It will identify and explain the components
of the smoking gun for several other impacts, as well, including an explanation
of the creation of Siberia, Western Antarctica, Eastern North America and South
America. The book will also give reasons to believe that the other major
extinctions have similar characteristics, even though specific components of
the smoking gun for each event may be shrouded (or eroded or subducted) in the
mists of time.
This book will also propose a new mechanism for
determining the movement of plates and continents on earth over the millennia,
much like Cepheid variable stars are used in astronomy to measure distance.
Since this book will show conclusively that India was NOT where it supposedly
was 65 MYA according to the Standard Theory, it stands to reason that some
other modeling projections of plate tectonic movement may be incorrect, also.
The new mechanism may help to solve that problem.
This book will list
and explore several geological phenomena that are better explained by Ben's
Antipodal Theory than by the current Standard Theory.
Lastly, this book
will make the case for man and his modern technology as the only true answer to
the question of the ecological survival of this planet. |
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