LIFE

Our growing Earth?

Put aside that stuff about continental drift and tectonic plates explaining the world as it is, and consider a globe that may be getting bigger all round like a pumpkin on a vine

Oceans of data: This map, using radiometric data compiled by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, illustrates the process by which the ocean floors have been created within the last 200 million years. Pink and red indicate the most recent additions; greens followed by blues are the oldest. Detail added by researcher Neal Adams' Continuity Associates breaks the growth into 10-million-year sections. Humans have existed on Earth only during the time indicated by the pink lines. | NOAA / CONTINUITY ASSOCIATES

By Jeff Ogrisseg

Nov 22, 2009

The world is awash with wild theories, conjecture and speculation about everything you could imagine — and then some.

However, one theory that popped up some time ago stands out due to its unexpected curiosity: Earth is enlarging — in the way a pumpkin both balloons and adds mass.

Could this theory offer one simple explanation for the current distance between Earth's continents, and the death of the dinosaurs — without involving a Hollywood-size asteroid — and turn the long-held notion of India smashing into Asia on its head?

Our growing Earth?

Put aside that stuff about continental drift and tectonic plates explaining the world as it is, and consider a globe that may be getting bigger all round like a pumpkin on a vine

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