Journal of Physical Chemistry & Biophysics
Open Access

Fragmentation of the northeastern paleo-Indian oceanic domain by a creeping lithospheric current: Evidence from the ontong java plateau

4^th International Conference on Physics

September 17-18, 2018 | Berlin, Germany

Carl Strutinski

Germany

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Phys Chem Biophys

Abstract :

One of the most celebrated achievements of the plate tectonics theory (PTT) was the finding that rifting within continents may lead to ocean spreading and permeation of oceanic lithosphere between fragmented blocks of continental lithosphere. That the reverse, viz permeation of continental lithosphere through oceanic lithosphere, may be equally possible, yet under totally different circumstances, has not been considered until now. This, I assume, is a deficiency of the PTT and a consequence of its dealing with rigid plates on a constant-radius Earth. Within the frame of the improved Earth Expansion Model (EEM) I postulate that creeping mantle currents carrying continents on their back are able to penetrate suboceanic lithosphere and concomitantly assimilate and entrain the oceanic domains frontally encountered. The purpose of this study is to present evidence of: 1) the existence of a lithospheric current under SE Asia; 2) the penetration of this current into the northeastern flank of the Paleo-Indian Ocean and isolation of the extreme part of it as the West Philippine Basin; 3) the southeastward displacement of the oceanic domains situated directly in front of the current, i.e. those portions now forming the more or less tectonized basement of the Celebes, Banda and some smaller oceanic basins as well as the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP). In PTT reconstructions the latter is unanimously considered to have been formed in the Mid-Pacific (Fig. 1A) while I am asserting that it was initially placed in the present Gulf of Bengal (Fig. 1) forming a land bridge between India (IND) and Australia (AUS).

Biography :

Carl Strutinski studied Geological Sciences at the University of Bucharest. He worked for over 15 years in a geological enterprise for prospection and exploration, and then for another 17 years at the Geological Institute of Romania (Bucharest), studying metamorphism and geotectonics. Since 1990, he published seminal papers on the transcurrence phenomena in mountain building.

E-mail: cstrutinski@yahoo.com