Supercontinents and snowball Earth events

According to the present concepts, the proto-type of the Earth was formed around 4500 million years ago (Ma) and the life emerged in the oceans after few hundred million years. Life continues to exist in the oceans until the start of plate tectonics around 2800 Ma with the breakup of a super landmass, possibly the first Supercontinent. From then onwards six complete Supercontinent cycles occurred on the Earth and the seventh cycle started with the breakup of the Pangaea around 250 Ma. Earth's terrestrial regions became hospitable for life only after 2800 Ma, coinciding with the beginning of plate tectonics on the Earth. Volcanism at the Supercontinental breakup transformed the environment on the Earth from the cold to warm and as a result life moved from the oceans to the terrestrial regions.

Supercontinental period is very significant part in the history of the Earth. My hypothesis relates the snowball Earth events or global ice ages with the formation of Supercontinents. Supercontinent formation is a collision and merger of multiple continents. As a result sea floor spreading drastically reduces and possibly a pause occurs in the plate tectonics. Reduced seafloor spreading advances the ice sheets towards the equator in multiple ice ages of 100,000 years duration (Milankovitch cycles) and eventually causes a global glaciation. Breakup of the Supercontinent begins the plate tectonics again on the Earth. Increased seafloor spreading and the superplume thaws the ice age in a severe global warming. Melting ice sheets and the newly formed shallow ocean basins increases the sea level and floods the continental regions. Global warming and the continental flooding cause a major mass extinction.

All these days we were of the opinion that the ancient stories about the global deluge has no relevance to the Earth’s history. All the references to the global deluge in many cultures were stamped as myths. Ancient views about the Earth and the global deluges are in fact related to the Supercontinent cycle.

Seven Earths: Ancient Hebrew texts described about the past six Earths and the present as the seventh Earth. Salty and fresh oceans separated each Earth from another. Global deluge occurred in the beginning of the Seventh Earth is the same salty and fresh oceans those separated each of the previous Earths. From these descriptions it appears that each Earth is a single Supercontinent cycle. Salinity of the ocean increases from the breakup of the Supercontinent to the formation of another Supercontinent. Breakup removes the salt from the ocean and forms as a fresh water ocean. As the plates move towards the formation of another Supercontinent, salt builds up in the oceans. In other words, the Supercontinental breakup precedes with a global glaciation and more saline water in the ocean. Post Supercontinental period will have more fresh water in the ocean with the removal of salt and the melting of the ice sheets.

Seven Karshvars: Ancient Zoroastrian texts described the Karshvars as concentric circles one above the other. They described the present Karshvar - Hvaniratha as the seventh one, above all the previous Karshvars. An ocean separated each Karshvar from another. Karshvars are either Supercontinents or the Supercontinent cycles. Global flooding of the continental regions after the breakup of the Supercontinent is the ocean between each of the Karshvars. Sedimentary layers of each Supercontinent cycle forms above the previous one.

Manvantara Cycles: Ancient Indian Vedic texts described about the past six Manvantara cycles and the present as the seventh cycle. They also mentioned that in the beginning of each cycle a global deluge occurs on the Earth. Each Manvantara cycle lasts for approximately 308 million years and the age of the Earth was mentioned as 2 billion years. Even though there is a difference in time between Manvantara and the Supercontinent cycle, the description appears to be of the Supercontinent cycle. More over these ancient texts mentioned that there would be another seven Manvantara cycles apart from the current one, totaling fourteen of them as the total life span of the Earth. Appropriate time period for the seven Supercontinent cycles is another 3 billion years and this time is in accordance with the present standards of the Earth and planetary sciences for the hospitable environment to continue on the Earth.

It is clearly evident that the ancient civilizations considered the breakup of the first Supercontinent around 2800 Ma as the beginning of time. Our modern perception of time started with the decay of the radioactive elements in the planetesimals, a proto-type of the present planets, around 4500 Ma. In this scenario, both of the views are right, but the period around 2800 Ma is definitely more significant than the period of the Earth around 4500 Ma. Planet has grown bigger in size until 2800 Ma, but remained same after that period. Warm environment, terrestrial ecosystems and plate tectonics marks this time period as a significant event in the Earth’s history.

There was a long drawn fight between science and the ancient thoughts. Modern science believed that all the ancient thoughts were baseless. Supporters of the ancient thoughts believed that the truth is away from the current views in science because it opposes the ancient texts and started criticizing the whole science. Supporters of the ancient views ignored the glaring facts of the science. Science also ignored the ancient thoughts on the basis of the present concepts in evolutionary biology. Theory of evolution proclaims that the humans evolved through the times. In this scenario we can’t attribute the major concepts in science to the ancient civilizations. The attitude of the present science is of double standard. Science rejected the idea of 6000 years as the age of the Earth and said that the Earth is older than that time period. A 2 billion-year period for the age of the Earth was also termed as an accidental or arbitrary number. Science always turned down these ancient thoughts and never looked into them for any scientific basis.

With the proposal of tectonic pause, I could able to explain all the physical phenomena on the Earth in a unified way. My hypothesis explained ice ages, global warming, mass extinctions and the formation of sedimentary layers in conjunction with the plate tectonics and demonstrated that Earth indeed works as a system. My hypothesis not only attempted at unifying the Earth science but also proved that the ancient views are nothing but real history of the planet. In view of my hypothesis, we need to explore deep into lot of other established concepts in science. Among them are current scenario of the global warming, human evolution and ancestry of the human race.

Karunakar Marasakatla
Date: 25th June, 2001

Please email your views to: karunakarm@hotmail.com
Last updated: 25th June, 2001

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