Year: 2017 Pages: 10
Maxlow’s extensive analysis of (paleo-)geology, paleomagnetics, space geodetics, paleogeography, paleoclimatology, paleobiology, fossil fuels, past extinctions and metallogenics suggest that Earth’s radius has grown exponentially over the past 1.6 x 109 years by a factor of 3.75, with sufficient increase in mass to ensure that surface gravity has not decreased, and quite possibly has increased. A much more cursory examination of this assumption from the perspective of astronomical physics, particularly conservation of Earth’s orbital and rotational angular momentum, suggests a much more “modest” rate of increase, not necessarily exponential. And, while quite limited in comparison to Maxlow’s analysis, this simplified one still raises apparently valid discrepancies that should be addressed. Hopefully, further research and analysis, or validation of different assumptions, can bring these two competing arenas into closer agreement.