Growth of the earth episodically throughout geological time is abundantly evident. The three authors of this book give new spins to many geological phenomena that can better be explained by earth expansion than by existing, widely accepted theories, such as plate tectonics.
In this sequel to Environment of Violence editor Hunt and contributor Collins develop the theory of hydrogen degassing and the mobilization of mass from inner to outer geospheres.
First, Hunt deals with theories that can account for the apparent expansion of the primordial Earth. Then, Collins and Hunt progress to the chemical and petrological consequences of the generation of hydrides from the silicides, especially silicon carbide. The latent energy inherent in these rock-forming minerals is interpreted as the energy of endogeny, a major departure from the current energy attributions for orogeny and continental margin processes [plate tectonics].
Collins explains the origin of granite as transformation of petrologies from mafic to felsic by silicon substitution for heavier metals. Hunt reinterprets the causes of magmatism and volcanism and ascribes earthquakes [referring particularly to the San Andreas fault] to gaseous bursts in the solid mantle and crust. Skobelin provides new theories for volcanic pipes and diamonds. Hunt explains hotspots [e.g. Yellowstone], zeolites, coalification, and quartz sands as consequences of hydrogen-driven endogeny
The highlight of the book for an economic geologist is the enunciation of a new rationale for the origin and deposition of petroleum and metals. These are seen as provenance of deep levels of the planet. Metals as well as carbon, are mobilized by hydrogen as fluids below the surficial crystalline crust. The accumulation of hydrocarbons in oil- and gasfields and the deposition of metals in metal orefields may, thus, be expected to occur within the crystalline crust as well as in the sedimentary cover.
As a consequence of these theories, which were developed during the writing of the two books, the editor, whose career has spanned over fifty years in petroleum and mining exploration, is pursuing the logical consequences of his theory. He has undertaken to drill for oil and metallic minerals beneath the largest petroleum resource known on Earth, the Athahasca bituminous sands of Alberta, Canada. The proof of the theory of carbide/hydride systematics, first enunciated in Environment of Violence and then developed in Expanding Geospheres, should soon he proven if it is really true.