DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARTH AND ITS TECTOGENESIS

It is assumed that the earth having been formed in a cold state was warmed up by radioactive heat. Its further evolution was determined by differentiation of its constituent material through successive smelting from the mantle of relatively light components and subsequent displacement upward. The most intensive differentiation in the upper “layer” (evidently at depths of from 100 to 200km) causes strong vertical movements of the crust. After that is exhausted slower differentiation of the deeper “layer” (evidently at depths of from 200-300 km) is manifested on the surface in slow oscillatory movements forming platforms. Further heating activates the material of much deeper layers (as deep as 900 km) and causes large masses of basalt to rise to the surface. This ascent of basic material induces post-platform activity (observed in Central and East Asia), extrusions of plateau basalts and, filially, destruction of the continental crust through melting, metasomatic replacement and dissolution into the large volume of superheated basalt. As a result of destruction of the continental crust, large grabens, mediterranean seas and ocean basins have been formed. The development of tectonic processes is profoundly influenced by 1) the formation of deep faults in the crust and upper mantle which determine the routes of material distribution and 2) by the “the -lid-on-the-kettle-with-boiling-water” phenomenon. The last involves periodical accumulation of heat at depth, expansion of the mantle, the opening of deep faults, and quick removal of heat to the surface, together with heated material, along the faults. The periodicity of tectogenesis may be connected with this mechanism. It is assumed that up to now the earth has been warming up. Traces of tension of the crust accompanying the process of formation and expansion of the oceanic deeps are therefore considered to be an expression of a more general tension of whole crus and the upper mantle of the expanding earth. The expansion process expressed in the opening of defaults and uplift of deep-seated material to the surface along faults may be nonuniform, affecting some regions earlier than others, which causes the simultaneous existence of several regions in different stages of development. The author accepts the idea of deep-seated origin of sea-water, which rises from the mantle during subsidence of the oceanic basins and destruction of the continental crust. The author divides the history of the earth into two partly overlapping stages: granitic and basaltic. — Auth English summ.