 The
Geotectonics Creed
I believe in Plate Tectonics almighty,
Unified of the Earth Sciences, and explanation of all things geological
and geophysical.
And in our Xavier LePichon, revealer of relative motion, deduced
from spreading rates of all ridges.
Hypothesis of Hypothesis,
Theory of Theory,
Very Fact of Very Fact,
Deduced, not assumed;
 Continents
being of one plate with the Ocean Basins, from which they spread;
And which, when they meet another plate, are subducted, and descend
in the Benioff Zone, and are reabsorbed in the Asthenosphere and
are made Mantle.
And are also the cause of seismicity in island arcs; they soften
and can flow; and at mid-ocean ridges they rise again, according
to Vine and Matthews, and ascend into the Crust,
And create symmetrical magnetic anomalies.
And the sea floor spreads again, with continents, to build mountains
and cause metamorphism over time:
Whose evolution shall have no end.
And I believe in Continental Drift, the Guider of the Evolution
of Life,
Which proceedeth from Plate Tectonics and Sea-Floor Spreading,
Which with Plate Tectonics and Sea-Floor Spreading is worshipped
and glorified;
Which was spake of by Wegener.
And I believe in a single seismic and volcanic model, I acknowledge
one cause for the deformation of rocks.
And I look for the Eruption of new ridges,
And the Subduction of the plates to come.
Amen.
Background:
Charles Scharnberger wrote the Geotectonics Creed over 30 years
ago (around 1971) when he was teaching at Western Michigan University.
He handed out copies to the students in the Geotectonics course
that he was teaching at the time, and one of them sent it to the
journal Geotimes who published it.
Plate tectonics theory was still new at that time, and still controversial.
H. A. and A. A. Myerhoff had just published a scathing criticism
of plate tectonics in the Journal of the American Association of
Petroleum Geologists. The Myerhoffs accused plate tectonics supporters
of taking a lot on faith and embracing the new theory with almost
religious fervor. This led to a discussion in Scharnberger's class
of how new theories in science come to be accepted, and whether
the Myerhoffs' criticism was justified. Scharnberger certainly was
in the "pro-plate-tectonics" camp, having written his
PhD dissertation on the application of the theory to certain aspects
of the tectonic history of West Antarctica. But the classroom discussion
prompted him to think about what the plate tectonics "creed"
would sound like if it were to be couched in religious language.
Having been raised as an Anglican, he was quite familiar with the
Nicene Creed, and modeled the Geotectonics Creed on that. Of course,
most people who read the Creed in Geotimes took it to be sarcasm,
and assumed that he was on the same side as the Myerhoffs, which
was not the case.
With thanks to Charles Scharnberger for both the 'Creed' and the
background information.
Useful links:
The
theory of continental drift
The
theory of plate tectonics
Information
about Alfred Wegener
Geotimes (The
American Geological Institute)
|