The Earth Expansion Evidence
A Challenge for Geology, Geophysics and Astronomy. Selected Contributions to the Interdisciplinary Workshop held in Erice, Sicily, Italy, 4-9 October 2011 at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre For Scientific Culture

Area 04 – Scienze della terra

The last century was dominated by the creation of scientific theories: the newborn Relativistic, Quantum and Cosmological Theories are proper examples. The Earth Sciences followed this trend by proposing the principles of Plate tectonics. On the contrary, the concept of the Expanding Earth was not developed as a commonly accepted paradigm, but was an open field of original investigations, interpretations, and results. This innovative attitude is evident in the different interpretations of the Pacific and Indian oceans paleogeographical evolution; in the cosmological or incidental motor of expansion (still to be identified);in the different estimates of the Earth's radial expansion. This is a positive sign of vitality: we cannot crystallize these ideas in a few postulates from which we may deduce all the answers, and to which we may constrain all data. The Expanding Planet scheme provides a common explanation of several complex and debated issues relating to Paleontology, Paleomagnetism, Geology, Climatology and Astrogeodesy.

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