[ 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
122 and “Geothermal Heat” on page
123. This also explains why the inner core spins faster than the rest of the Earth (page
169), 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
126 and Endnote
84 on page
154.] 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 626),
- 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
160–
200),
- 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
123), 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
190.]