Foreword 7
1. Setting the Scene 9
2. How Plants Spread and Change 13
3. Continental Drift and Earth Expansion 22
4. The Distributions of Nut Trees 31
5. How the Earth Fell Apart 42
6. More Distributions and Evidence 55
7. Putting the Earth Back Together 63
8. Making Mountains out of Movements 79
9. Inside the Earth 87
10. The Rolling Oceans 95
11. The Earth's Atmosphere 105
12. Death of the Dinosaurs 119
13. The Origins of Fossil Fuels 126
14. Geoprospecting and Mineral Riches 134
15. The Moon and the Planets 140
16. The Cosmic Engines 151
17. Looking Back: the Final Synthesis 166
Postscript: Sitting Back on the Sofa 191
References 192
Collected Propositions 194
"The purest gems lie hidden in the
bottom of the ocean or in the depths of rocks. One has to dive into the ocean
or delve into the rocks to find them out. Similarly, truth lies concealed in
the language, which with the passage of time has become obsolete"
-- Motilal Banarsidass
It must be a rare event for material which may be
of fundamental importance to geologists to have its first public airing at a
conference of nutgrowers. But that was the case with the basic material
presented in this book; it was the subject of a paper I gave at the 3rd
Australasian Conference on Tree and Nut Crops, held in May 1986 in Auckland,
New Zealand.
That paper, and this book, both contain two seemingly bizarre assertions. The
first is that the Earth has, in the geological past, expanded like a blown-up
balloon. It is shown that the present continents once covered the whole surface
of the Earth; these have split apart under the expansion, and are now widely
separated.
The second assertion is that the first assertion can be proved by a study of
nut trees. Bizarre as that may seem, read on, gentle reader, and judge on the
evidence presented. No doubt these two assertions are a mighty bite to take in.
When I go on the third assertion, that fundamental knowledge on the origin of
life, the evolution of man, and the structure and cosmology of the universe can
stem from the same studies, ....!
As in most of man's intellectual advances, much of what I present here is based
on the work of others, extending back into the distant past. One pivot of the
present argument is based on a study of plant distributions, and that is a subject
which has had many distinguished contributors active in it, going back over at
least two centuries. Indeed, this study could be claimed to have its roots in
comments made by the ancient Greeks, so perhaps twenty centuries is closer.
The study of the Earth is at least as ancient. However, it is true that these
topics have had their most active development in the recent past. Even this
active phase is not so very modern, however; we shall see that it extends back
to well over a century ago. To reach high, we all must need stand upon the
shoulders of giants of the past.
So, turn the page, and start the journey along a road of propositions. Go armed
with a critical and perceptive view, but be ready to accept the logic of
evidence and the evidence of logic. Good travelling!