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MEGWA
Wednesday 21 FEBRUARY 2018
5.30pm Drinks
6.00pm Presentation
BEYOND PLATE TECTONICS: Unsettling settled science
JAMES MAXLOW
With the hindsight of over fifty years of global data collection and data processing, the primary intent of my talk will be to present modern global tectonic observational data in order to investigate what this data has to tell us about the formation and subsequent geological history of the Earth.
Until now, modern global tectonic data has only been investigated from a conventional Continental Drift-based Plate Tectonic perspective. Hence, to an observer, it may seem that science has adopted Plate Tectonics as a unique and comprehensive description of our tectonic understanding of the Earth and all is settled in the geosciences. In reality though, at no stage over the past half-century has the scientific community been encouraged, or has seriously deviated from conventional Continental Drift-based plate theory in order to see what else, if anything, this modern global data may reveal beyond our current Plate Tectonic understanding.
It is emphasised that the research presented in my talk—based exclusively on modern global observational data—is focused on modelling this data independently of any present or pre-existing theory. This critical analysis, which allows the data to tell its own story, reveals a new tectonic picture of the Earth that more closely aligns with global empirical observations and modelling. It will be shown that the resulting picture overcomes a great number of known limitations and problems still facing Plate Tectonics today, in particular the use of Continental Drift as the basis of plate theory.
The work covered in my talk represents the results of an intensive study by the author, a retired professional geologist and researcher, over the past twenty five years. The data used is sourced from well-renowned international datasets from a wide range of specialized fields of Earth science, including geology, palaeogeography, palaeoclimate, biogeography, palaeomagnetics, natural metallic and fossil-fuel based resources, and space geodetics.
The presentation will appeal to a wide audience, in particular those with an innate exposure to the natural sciences and to persons with prior exposure and qualifications in the various Earth sciences.
