> > Actually the planet has been growing, when the planet was one land mass,
it
> > was 80% the size of what it is today. They can tell by the way the
> > continents fit.
> Danny, the continental plates may only cover 80% of the earth's area
> (which I doubt), but the rest is taken up by the pacific and indian
> ocean plates which are subducting under the North American, SOuth
> American, Australian, and Asian plates. If what you suggest is true,
> then we would have a much greater meteoric impact record than we do and
> be living under much greater greenhouse conditions. Thus only the
> continental plates have grown as divergence continued, but those growing
> plates rode over older plates that subducted under them.
Planet growth is one of the theories of continetal drift. The idea is that
as the Earth cools it starts to expand (at an ever decreasing rate) and the
continents break up, mountains form, etc. All of the continents were
connected but they didn't cover the Earth entirely, and 80% of the size is
very unlikely.
--Wax