The pacific tectonic belt of the Earth's crust

Abstract

By the Pacific tectonic belt, the author means a complex of structural formations of the earth's crust (folded and recent geosyncline), included in a gigantic ring lying between the floor of the Pacific Ocean on the one hand and the ancient platforms adjacent to the ocean of continents on the other hand. Thus, the belt includes Baikalian, Caledonian, Hercynian, Mesozoic and Cenozoic folded zones and recent geosynclinal formations. The given circular belt from Late Precambrian to Cenozoic was an exceptionally mobile part of the earth's crust. Despite the large mobility of the Pacific margin, the main point of the tectonic process here lies in a gradual growth of continental blocks of the earth's crust, by means of folded zones during the recession of geosynclinal systems towards the ocean floor. The geological history of the Pacific tectonic belt is very different from the development of the belts of the Atlantic segment of the earth's crust. It is the result of the asymmetry of the earth's crust. A definition and a short characterization of the Pacific tectonic belt of the earth's crust is suggested. The studies of the structure of this belt are of especially great cognitive interest, since they extend our knowledge of the tectonic asymmetry of the earth's crust i.e., of the structural difference between the Pacific and Atlantic segments. The author believes that this theory has at present become one of the fundamental principles of tectonics, especially considering the recently established structural asymmetry of the moon.