[ Technical Notes
> Melting the Inner Earth
> Conclusion
]
Conclusion
By assuming a uniform density distribution throughout the preflood Earth (altered only by the compression that increases with depth), the hydroplate theory and gravitational settling answer the many questions raised in “Volcanoes and Lava” on page 115 and “Geothermal Heat” on page 116. This also explains why the inner core spins faster than the rest of the Earth (page 161), and why George Dodwell found that the tilt of the Earth’s spin axis has steadily changed during the last 4,000 years. [See page 118 and Endnote 84 on page 145.] Finally, the hydroplate theory and gravitational settling explain the following unusual characteristics of today’s Earth:
- the huge density discontinuity at the core-mantle boundary (highlighted in red on page 347),
- Earth’s liquid outer core and solid inner core,
- “oceans” of flood basalts found worldwide, especially in and surrounding the Pacific and Indian Oceans,
- oceanic trenches and the Ring of Fire (explained on (pages 153–190),
- the 40,000 volcanoes (all taller than 1 kilometer) on the floor of the Pacific Ocean,
- the great variability of the temperature gradient under the Earth’s surface (discussed on page 116), and
- Earth’s powerful magnetic field—2,000 times greater than the combined magnetic fields of all the rocky planets. [See
“The Origin of Earth’s Powerful Magnetic Field” on page
180.]