PLATE TECTONICS WITH FIXED CONTINENTS: A TESTABLE HYPOTHESIS ‐ I

Abstract

This paper proposes that plate‐tectonic processes do not necessarily cause continental drift, and that sialic blocks the size of Australia or larger are fixed relative to eachother. Continental drift has not yet been geodetically demonstrated and the geologic evidence for it has been repeatedly challenged or refuted. New lines of evidence presented here against drift include: absence of the low‐velocity zone under Shields; deep continental lithospheric roots; absence of continental hot‐spot trails; absence of significant offset between Greenland and Ellesmere Island; internal contradictions in paleomagnetic data, and between paleomagnetic and paleogeographic data; Cenozoic tectonism and horizontal compression at supposed passive margins; and absence of an adequate plate‐driving force for plates with continental (non‐subductable) leading edges. The hypothesis of plate tectonics with fixed continents predicts that high‐precision geodetic measurements now in progress will find no separation of Eurasia and North America no matter how long they are continued. It implies some form of slow subduction at supposed passive margins such as the east coast of North America.