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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expanding Earth | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:19:37.253793+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Main arguments against Earth expansion == The hypothesis had never developed a plausible and verifiable mechanism of action. During the 1960s, the theory of plate tectonics— based initially on the assumption that Earth's size remains constant, and relating the subduction zones to burying of lithosphere at a scale comparable to seafloor spreading—became the accepted explanation in the Earth Sciences. The scientific community finds that significant evidence contradicts the Expanding Earth theory, and that the evidence used for it is explained better by plate tectonics:
Measurements with modern high-precision geodetic techniques and modeling of the measurements by the horizontal motions of independent rigid plates at the surface of a globe of free radius, were proposed as evidence that Earth is not currently increasing in size to within a measurement accuracy of 0.2 mm per year. The main author of the study stated "Our study provides an independent confirmation that the solid Earth is not getting larger at present, within current measurement uncertainties". The motions of tectonic plates and subduction zones measured by a large range of geological, geodetic and geophysical techniques helps verify plate tectonics. Imaging of lithosphere fragments within the mantle is evidence for lithosphere consumption by subduction. Paleomagnetic data has been used to calculate that the radius of Earth 400 million years ago was 102 ± 2.8 percent of the present radius. Examinations of data from the Paleozoic and Earth's moment of inertia suggest that there has not been any significant change of Earth's radius during the last 620 million years.
== See also == Geophysical global cooling - a converse hypothesis Category:Plate tectonics Timeline of the development of tectonophysics (before 1954) Timeline of the development of tectonophysics (after 1952) List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
== Notes ==
=== Bibliography === Carey, S.W.; 1976: "The Expanding Earth", Developments in Geotectonics (10), Elsevier, ISBN 0-444-41485-1; digital edition 2013: ASIN B01E3II6VY. Carey, S.W.;1988: "Theories of the Earth and Universe: A History of Dogma in the Earth Sciences", Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-804-71364-2. Duff, D.; 1993: Holmes' principles of physical geology, Chapman & Hall (4th ed.), ISBN 0-412-40320-X. Fowler, C.M.R.; 1990: The Solid Earth, an introduction to Global Geophysics, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-38590-3. Stanley, S.M.; 1999: Earth System History, W.H. Freeman & Co, ISBN 0-7167-2882-6.