Immersion equilibrium (Isostasy) of the earth’s crust. Shifting of the poles of rotation. Transgressions and Regressions (of the sea) caused by wandering of the poles. The coefficient of viscosity of the earth according to earthquake observations, the tides of the solid earth, and the oscillations of the poles. Possibility of a magmatic layer (asthenosphere). Influence of the great size of the earth. Paradoxical properties of viscous bodies. Soft solid, and hard fluid bodies. Temperature distribution in the earth’s interior.
Extension of the floor of the sea by the drifting apart of the continental blocks. Depths and covering of the floor of the oceans. Possible explanation by the temperature relations. Currents in the sima. Deep-sea troughs.
Outlines of the continental blocks. Section through the layers of the earth. Insignificant importance of the sedimentary strata. The original complete covering of the earth with sial. Gradual decrease of folding in the earth’s history. The irreversible character of the evolutionary processes of the sial-layer. Inclusions of sima in the sial. The nature of vulcanicity.
Development of the explanation of folded ranges by compression. Evidence of the gravity measurements. Folding and erosion, subject to the preservation of isostasy. Unsymmetrical character of the folding process. Greater thickness of the sediments in folded regions. Folding on the anterior margin of the drifting blocks, and equatorial folding. General conditions for normal folds, echeloned folds, lateral displacements, and rifts. The East African rift valley. Foundering of the Ægean Sea area. Predominant meridional rifts.
