How the Earth's Plate Tectonic Cycle Works

About the Book

The youth of the ocean floors (0- .3Ma) verses the age of plate tectonics (2-3 Ma) suggests strongly that plate tectonics is cyclic. Densified silicate liquid(Ls) at about 290km depth suggests that it could be the ingredient that lightens the outer core as well as an active ingredient in its activities along with lower mantle phases high density magnesium provoskite (MgPv), calcium perovskite (CaPv), magnesiumwustite (Mw), iron(Ir) and iron liquid(Lm) plus isobarically and isothermally invariant liquid phases. Unstable convective contacts among these phases at all levels produce heat as they tend toward stable equilibrium. This heat expands against the earth's mantle and even causes the inner core to melt with 5cc\g. Eventually, the core-mantle boundary fails along lines and / or points to allow for the exit of densified silicate liquid. This liquid reacts with the lower mantle to produce unique liquids FOZO for oceanic island basalts and C-Component for the ridge and rise basalts ofthe Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. It is thought that these ejected liquids react to form hot solid plumes of low viscosity that ascend to 290 km where they melt on decompression to basalt that ascends further to create oceanic crust. Sea-floor spreading followed by subduction to the earth's core where the cycle ends to begin... again and again. A hypothetical ternary system is used to illustrate the cycle from beginning to end. Experimental evidence indicates that the core-mantle boundary may be as simple as a quaternary reaction:

MgPv + CaPv +Mw = Ls + Lm, where Ls probably contains some Fe203.

About the Author

Born in 1935 north of Pittsburg in Allison Park, John was educated at Hampton High School, got his B.S. at Allegheny College, his M.S. at New Mexico Tech and his Ph.D. at Penn State Universily in 1969. His experience in experimental petrology stated with the study of the effects of cooling on the physical properties of blast furnace slag with J. C. Griffiths. Then he was fortunate to come under the creative and inspiring leadership of O. F. Tuttle where he worked on silica in calcic-alkali feldspars and other systems at PSU and Stanford University where he helped build and run Stanford’s Experimental Petrology Lab and finished his work on the NaAlSiO₄-Mg₂SiO₄-SiO₂-H₂O at high temperatures and pressures, explored its petrologic implications, ran other projects and helped visitors with projects. The stability of Sodium Phlogopite and its two hydrates were documented and published but that of stability of glaucophane, anticipated from a previous study, was not. Research and teaching at The University of Iowa, PSU, UCLA, Knox College, Goddard Space Flight Center, The Geophysical Lab of Washington D.C., The University of WS-Parkside, Radford University and especially VA Tech combined to delineate the low temperature-high pressure stability of glaucophane with Charles M. Gilbert, but also crucial help from Art Montana and Hatten Yoder Jr. was obtained. John has also labored at numerous other jobs from construction, to shrimping, to longshore handeling of TX long grain rice, to concrete work, to teaching in junior- and senior high schools in TX, and a time or two of homelessness. He has even been jailed several times, but never been involved with criminal violence or thievery. He lives in St. Cloud, FL with his former wife Carol. He has four children from a former marriage and eight grandchildren. I can be contacted by e-mail at drjohnhcarman@gmail.com for comments, corrections, questions and suggestions. He is also founded a not for profit company called Care-Man Enterprises for works that benefit mankind when ever and where ever he senses the need --toward a HEAVEN on earth where for him HEAVEN is a acronym for Haven All-ways Equilibrated Verily Evil Nowhere.