Publication: La evolución de la tectónica de placas: el nuevo interior de la tierra
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1995
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Asociación Española para la Enseñanza de las Ciencias de la Tierra
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Abstract
La tectónica de placas es una “teoría de la Tierra” cuya capacidad de cuantificación y de predicción la colocan a la altura de las grandes teorías de otras ramas científicas. Las novedades tecnológicas en experimentación e informática han posibilitado una depuración y renovación de muchas de las hipótesis auxiliares de la tectónica de placas sobre el manto y el núcleo terrestre. Las nuevas hipótesis, que apuntan a una convección generalizada en el conjunto del planeta, han sido también propiciadas por avances epistemológicos generales (como la física del caos) o en la epistemología de las Ciencias de la Tierra (como es el neocatastrofismo). Mientras que la circulación en el manto parece comprenderse de forma satisfactoria, dos conceptos que parecieron básicos en la teoría inicial (dorsales oceánicas y astenosfera) han demostrado tener sólo una importancia accesoria.
Plate tectonics is a “theory of the Earth” with an outstanding capacity for quantification and prediction, enough for granting it a place side by side with the grand theories of other scientific disciplines. Technological breakthroughs in laboratory hardware and computer software have made possible to revamp the theory, on the basis of recent data on the mantle and core. The new ideas, which support a generalised mantle and core convection, have also been brought into light with the help of progress in the theory of Science (Chaos Physics) and in the theories of Earth Sciences (Neocatastrophism). While the mantle circulation regime seems acceptably understood, the concepts of oceanic ridges and asthenosphere, which seemed paramount in the early plate tectonics, are seen now as of only secondary importance.
Plate tectonics is a “theory of the Earth” with an outstanding capacity for quantification and prediction, enough for granting it a place side by side with the grand theories of other scientific disciplines. Technological breakthroughs in laboratory hardware and computer software have made possible to revamp the theory, on the basis of recent data on the mantle and core. The new ideas, which support a generalised mantle and core convection, have also been brought into light with the help of progress in the theory of Science (Chaos Physics) and in the theories of Earth Sciences (Neocatastrophism). While the mantle circulation regime seems acceptably understood, the concepts of oceanic ridges and asthenosphere, which seemed paramount in the early plate tectonics, are seen now as of only secondary importance.