HYPOTHESIS OF DIFFERENTIATION OF THE EARTH'S CRUST AND SOME GEOTECTONIC GENERALIZATIONS
Title:
HYPOTHESIS OF DIFFERENTIATION OF THE EARTH'S CRUST AND SOME GEOTECTONIC GENERALIZATIONS
Author:
Lustich, Ye.N.
Appeared in:
International geology review
Paging:
Volume 4 (1962) nr. 12 pages 1307-1325
Year:
1962-12
Contents:
The problem of the physico-chemical mechanism of the evolution of geosynclinal areas can be approached only by joint efforts of geologists, geophysicists, and geochemists. The geophysicists should be guided by laws of the Earth's crust evolution, as established by the geologists. Statistical method should be introduced into geology. “Density inversion” is the main factor in the vertical movement within geosynclines. In V.V. Beloussov's definition, this means a situation wherein a heavier elastic layer is supported by a lighter and fluid one. The several effects of this phenomenon, of a geological interest, are considered. Investigations by Bott, Balavadze, and others have demonstrated the existence of density inversion. A new hypothesis of the vertical movement in geosynclines is presented. In the first half of a cycle, tensile stresses of the heat expansion of the Earth result in a deep rift along which the geosyncline subsides. This is followed by the flow of acid magma out of the mantle and upward, toward the base of the crust and the granite layer. As a result, mountains rise on the site of the earlier subsidence, in the second half of the cycle, with density inversion in control of regional and local movements. According to another hypothesis, the differentiation takes place at much greater depths and is independent of any crustal tension. —Auth. English summ.
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