Summary

Here is a summary of the documentary. In the next few weeks, I will post additional details about the documentary, such as where we are looking, who's signed on to help, any successes we have had, how our approach may be evolving, a background on geology (for the non-geology folk) and other stuff. We will also include ways you can help us, such as how to donate. We are still setting up a lot of that, but we'll have it up shortly. 

The recent earthquake activity being witnessed all over the world throughout the last decade has placed geology in the limelight. The earth sciences have never been more socially interesting, politically relevant or scientifically significant than they are right now. An apparent increase in the volume and magnitude of tectonic events across the globe, such as the earthquakes in Chile, Haiti, Myanmar, New Zealand and recently Japan, have the public deeply concerned.

The consensus among Earth scientists, so far as the general public is concerned, is that all of the tectonic activity that happens on the planet’s surface, with the exception of Hot Spots, is the result of plates interacting with each other in three ways: collision of two continents, subduction of an oceanic plate under a continent, or along transform faults like the San Andreas fault. There are very few things that can’t be explained by these three observable phenomena, according to proponents of the Plate Tectonic Theory.

However, a compelling case is being presented by a growing number of scientists who claim to have found much evidence to the contrary. Subduction, for example, stands accused of being mathematically and geometrically impossible, physically and mechanically unlikely, and whose mechanism and driving force requires an unobservable, unproven and poorly understood explanation involving convection. Many papers have been written criticizing the theory in intricate detail, even by those who believe in it. Some believe the theory is erroneous or weak, but think it is fairly close.

Then there are those who go further. Expanding Earth Theory, Contracting Earth Theory, Global Wrench Tectonics, Surge Tectonics, Pulsating Earth Theory, Subcore Drift Theory and many other concepts have been put forth as alternatives. Some theories have commonalities, such as Expanding Earth Theory and Contracting Earth Theory believing that the continents do not move (fixism) and that tectonic activity is primarily vertical. Some even have things in common with Plate Tectonic Theory, such as the existence of spreading centers like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the Expanding Earth model.

That so many theories can exist is a testament to how little we really understand the Earth. The biggest proponent of Expanding Earth Theory, Samuel W. Carey, was actually an original defender of Alfred Wegener at a time when his Continental Drift Theory was ridiculed, and was instrumental in breaking the ice with a Theory of the Earth. Only after it gained acceptance and became Plate Tectonic Theory did Carey begin to question the theory more closely. Ironically, he became ridiculed after suggesting that the Earth may in fact be expanding in size.

If men like Samuel Carey can become marginalized and ridiculed overnight, the case can be made that such things are still happening today. And if science is on the side of those who are real practitioners of it, then the evidence should speak for itself. This may be the case with Geology’s hottest and most important area of interest right now: Earthquake prediction.

Critics of Plate Tectonics often point to the theory’s failure to provide any hope for predicting earthquakes or volcanism, which is the holy grail of geology. The reason for this is the theory’s assumed unpredictability. No cause has been found for why plates move as fast or as far as they do or what directions they may change to. But while the top minds in geology are trying to find the answer, the scientists working outside the mainstream say they have found a link between the motion of the sun and the moon. Supported by evidence from the geologic record, they are finding that tectonic activity is at an all-time high because we are entering a solar minimum – a period of decreased energy output from the sun – which is referred to as a “solar hibernation.” Over the last few years, they have developed sophisticated models for measuring solar and lunar impact on global tectonics. If true, the implications of this scientific oversight are huge.

Yet looking at this evidence and these theories is only half of what this film is going to do. This film will also look at the flow of information from the field where it is collected, through the academic world where it is interpreted and studied, and to the classroom where it is disseminated. The fact is, there are many pedagogical consequences and problems associated with the teaching of a theory like Plate Tectonics. The simplicity of the theory leads, not surprisingly, to an over-simplified view of the Earth where it would seem there are no large questions left unanswered. The feeling that all of the big questions have been solved serves to quell any child’s inspiration or passion for geology. It also creates over-confidence in those who do go into geology, for they only seek solutions that fit the theory that they were once told would fit everything. Anything that doesn’t seem to fit is treated as merely anomalous, even if it is far from extraordinary.

Finally, the theory could just be flat wrong. It would not be an exception to the rule of scientific history at all if Geology turns out to have been pursuing the wrong theory all along. It is a relatively new science, and new sciences tend to run with the first big theory they come up with. An older science like Cosmology is a science which even today demands constant reassessments of the current model. Rethinking the way we view the universe did not stop with Galileo; that is where it started. Up until 1927, we thought the Milky Way was the universe, and the discovery of other galaxies forced us to reexamine this as well. In fact, astrophysics is a field in which many theories are entertained because things like dark matter and dark energy are, at this point, anyone’s guess. The concept of reinvention is so much more commonplace in Cosmology than in any other science, and it ought to be used as a model for all the sciences.

The film will attempt to do the following: chronicle the earth sciences from origin to the present; explain the many criticisms of Plate Tectonic Theory along with rebuttals wherever possible; depict as accurately as possible as many alternatives as do exist, focusing more heavily on those which are most developed and praised by peers; examine the life of scientists who pursue such theories as well as those who sympathize but fear doing so for financial or political reasons; look closely at the subject of earthquake prediction, investigating any potential systems that may have been proposed or which currently exist and works to this end; speak to educators who are aware of the existence of such theories and/or the problems with Plate Tectonics, and attempt to incorporate them into the curriculum; briefly look at public perceptions of Earth dynamics in recent history, particularly in the media; make comparisons to other sciences, such as astrophysics and archaeology; compare geological societies of the world and contrast the egalitarian ones with the dogmatic ones.