How did the Pacific Basin Formed?

Question

Apparently ... "the Pacific sea floor is only 0-150 million years old"
I thought it was because the moon hit the earth.. apparently not, it could have been because of a "glancing blow" from another asteroid... so ...

How the Pacific Basin Formed ?"

Answer 1

Have you ever played "bumper cars"? You can usually find this activity at most state fairs and carnivals. You get into your car and go riding around, smashing into all the other people who are on the course with you. It is great fun!! That is what the continents have been doing since the earliest times on the Earth. And as they go gliding along, smashing into each other, they leave brand new sea floor behind themselves, in their wake. This is why the sea floor, including the Pacific sea floor, is so "young", i.e, 0-150 million years old, whereas the continents are as old as 3.8 billion years old, in some places (Canada, Australia, Greenland, to be exact) The Pacific basin was formed exactly this way, as the continents have meandered about, across the Earth's surface. One of the most recent collisions was when India smashed into Asia, causing the Himalayan Mountains to rise up.

Answer 2

It was American H. Baker that attempted the first detailed reconstruction of the continents. He postulated that an original, single, enormous landmass (a supercontinent) suddenly split to form the present Arctic and Atlantic Oceans at the end of the Miocene. However, he believed that the cause of the split was attributed to variations in orbits that brought Earth and Venus close enough together to produce severe tidal distortions. Baker speculated that these distortions could have resulted in a large portion of the original crust being torn from the Pacific to form the moon, with the remaining continental crust rupturing and slipping toward the Pacific void. Coincidentally, this explanation of the formation of the moon and the Pacific Basin sounds very similar to that of Osmond Fisher's in 1882.

Soon after Baker, other people began to favor the theory of continental drift, the most familiar of whom was Alfred Wegner. He drew upon evidence from geology, geophysics, biology, and climatology in developing the first complete and influential statement of the theory of continental drift in 1912. Wegner found flaws in the prevailing theory of contraction. He realized that many of the distinctive features of the earth's surface could not be explained by this theory. According to Wegner, about 200 million years ago, all the continents had been joined in a single super continent which he called Pangea. Forces associated with the rotation of the earth caused the continent to break apart opening up the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Fossils and distinctive geological features that crossed continental boundaries supported this idea.

According to Wegner's hypothesis, the continents migrate through the substratum, which acts as a viscous fluid. He suggested that forces related to the rotation of the earth propel the continents. Wegner assumed that the substratum underlying the continents is a highly viscous fluid, and if a powerful enough force is supplied the continents above should move both vertically and horizontally.

Before geologists and geophysicists would abandon established doctrine of rigid continents, they had to be overwhelmed by evidence in favor of Wegner's hypothesis. During the 1920s and 1930s there was great controversy over his ideas. Many attacked the mechanism of tidal forces that Wegner used to explain continental drift. Although the theory of continental drift remains, the mechanism Wegner proposed as the cause of continental drift has long since been abandoned.


Today, scientists believe that convection currents provide the mechanism for changing and moving the continents. The idea suggests that the interior of the earth is in a state of extremely sluggish thermal convection. The continents, having been built up by lighter materials brought up from below, pile up to form mountains. Where convection currents in the mantle descend into the interior of the earth, trenches are found. Below the brittle crust there is evidence of a slightly plastic layer called the asthenosphere. The presence of the asthenosphere accounts for lateral movement.

Answer 3

Actually I've never seen a very good explaination of why the Pacific Basin is only up to 150 million years old. That is probably not old enough to explain the size of the Pacific Ocean.

It may be that there are parts of the Pacific Ocean's floor that are much older than 150 million years.

Be skeptical of what you read. If it doesn't add up start asking more questions.

Answer 4

Hi. One theory has a large object hitting Earth which created both the basin and the moon. Just a theory. Fresh surface gets exposed by tectonics as pointed out above.

Answer 5

Plate tectonics