Earth Science Module 21 Plate Tectonics: The Earth in Motion
Plate Tectonics Module Study Notes and Outline Creationist Model
I. _______________________ Scientists shift their paradigm
A. When the data supporting plate tectonics was first published, creationists, many who
were amateurs, ____________________ it, calling it a new attempt at evolutionary explanations of the earth.
B. However, by the 1980s there were enough professionally trained creationists to take
the data ________________________.
C. In the late 1980s a group of professionally trained creationist scientists got together
and said, “Hey, can we make ________ of these data in light of the biblical history?”
D. They asked, “Can plate tectonic data also be used to explain ________________
__________________, especially the amount of rain needed?”
E. What they concluded is the _______________ example of creationist model building, as you will see!
II. How the plates _____________________
A. Actually the creationists incorporated much of the mechanisms of plate tectonics in
their model of earth history. However they replaced uniformitarian rates with much __________________________ rates to fit in a year global flood catastrophe.
B. Their version of plate tectonics has miles per hour speeds (or meters per second) and
is called ________________________ Plate Tectonics or CPT.
C. CPT uses ____________________ of the magmatic mantle, and the conveyer belt
type push and pull.
D. However, in this model, the friction is overcome by _______________ subduction.
1. CPT sees the original ocean floor in a delicate balance with the mantle. That is God created the Earth with an ocean floor denser than the mantle below and denser than the continental crust.
2. However it was held in place by attachment to the ____________________ crust.
a. When something broke the connection of the ocean crust to the continental crust, the ocean crust began to _______________.
3. However, the only thing to stop it was friction. But once runaway subduction started, the friction heated the mantle and made it more _______________ so the ocean crust sank faster.
a. The friction was reduced so it didn’t stop movement but was enough to keep heating the mantle.
b. This continued faster and faster, heating and softening the mantle all the way to the Earth’s _____________. So the subduction was in runaway mode until all the original ocean floor was used up. This is what drove plate movement.
4. Because the mantle got so liquid from the friction, the movement was up to several ____________ (not cm/year) within several weeks.
5. After the original ocean floor was used up, residual convection still moved plates by a decreasing speed until the movement slowed to the _________________
crawl.
E. The deep convection currents and cold crust in the lower mantle next to the core
caused the liquid outer core suddenly to develop strong convection currents. This caused the magnetic field of the earth to suddenly and erratically
___________________ back and forth every few days.
1. The rapid reversals occurring at the same time as churning lava flows made new ocean floor. This resulted in the magnetic ________________ stripes being mottled and rough margined.
III. Rodinia—The World from the ___________________ to the Flood
A. In terms of Earth history, the creationist model also picks up with Rodinia, the world
as God created it, with a stable mantle, precariously balanced ocean __________________, and relative low mountains.
B. Rodinia stayed stable until something ___________________ it about 1650 years
after creation (2200 by genealogies in the Septuagint). Perhaps God suddenly caused it supernaturally or perhaps something set in motion at the Fall caused it. One
possibility is an asteroid strike because many creationists think that the global flood catastrophe touched all creation, including the Universe, not just the Earth.
C. Whatever caused it, the ocean floor began to sink in runaway subduction and sank
into the deep mantle where convection through the ______________ mantle began.
D. As soon as subduction started, the mid-oceans rifts (and probably continental rift
valleys) __________________ up in a single day around the whole globe.
E. The excessive amount of magma superheated the ocean water sending steam and
water pulled by the steam (_________________ of the great deep) high into the atmosphere where it then began falling as rain (________________ of heaven) for 40 days and nights.
F. The convection _____________________ up the middle of the oceans and
subduction ______________________ down the continental margins so that ocean water, as well as the rain falling down, flooded the continents.
G. Rodinia was _______________ apart in the initial stages of the Flood, and the
continents began moving at least partly submerged.
IV. Pangea—the World _____________________
A. Pangea actually formed during the ____________________ of the Flood. It never
supported growing populations of plants or animals. Only fossils of Glossopteris were deposited in the southern part of Pangea, and that was under water.
B. Pangea was never ______________________. Creation geologists interpret the rock
formation that somewhat resemble eroded glacial deposits as deposits from underwater landslides.
C. Dinosaurs were finally drowned and buried as Pangea was ___________________
up, which lasted only a few weeks.
D. The Flood waters began ______________________ after Pangea broke up and before
the continents took their current position
V. The modern world—________________________ from the Flood
A. One year after the Flood began, the continents began taking modern positions, the
runaway subduction ran out of fuel and the movement rapidly _________________.
B. However there was enough movement to slam ________________ into Asia to raise
the Himalaya Mts.
C. Animals came off Noah’s ark and plants settle on soft mud. They and humans began
reproducing and ______________________. Animals and plants spread out across the earth and diversifying into the modern species we see today.
D. Catastrophic activity of volcanoes, earthquakes, and heavy rain storms continued for
decades or centuries at a much ____________________ level than had been in the Flood but at a higher level than today.
E. This localized catastrophic activity resulted in local _____________________ and
fossilization of the animals and plants in the process of diversifying and spreading out over the earth.
F. The warmth of the oceans and volcanic dust shading the continents led to excessive
snow in the north and developed an ________ __________________ that lasted about 500 years.
VI. Problems—as with the _______________________ model there are still problems that have to resolved and understood.
A. ________________________ of heat
1. The lateral movement of continents and other factors would have generated tremendous _____________.
a. Would warming the oceans to about 30° C be sufficient to
___________________ the heat from the continents or would the heat build up too much for creatures to live?
2. Future work on this in needed—you can help if you get training in geophysics.
B. ______________________ after Pangea formed
1. If all the original ocean floor was used up between Rodinia and Pangea, where did the additional crust come from to keep _________________ the split up of
Pangea?
2. _________________________ are working on this now, but more young-earth scientists are needed.
VII. Great____________________________ Power—what is really exciting is that CPT
is well formed and explains observed data in a scientifically sound way consistent with a straight-forward reading of the Bible!
A. The development of the CPT model of the Flood demonstrates that future work by professionally trained creationists can and will lead to many more scientifically sound _________________ to explain what the Bible simply hints at.
