When I first noticed that the Arctic Ocean is almost exactly opposite to the Antarctic continent, I felt a jolt of delight, perhaps like that of early geographers when they noticed how well Africa and the Americas fit together. An antipodal map of Earth curiously reveals that most continental crust is opposite to ocean.

Figure 1 – Antipodal map of Earth (Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/ceb76c/antipodal_map_of_planet_earth/ )
Moreover, there is a puzzle-piece like quality to all the continents and oceans. Although oceanic crust is made of denser material, it is thinner than continental crust, which is why continental crust can rise above the oceans. Tectonic plate margins do not exactly line up with shorelines, although the shapes are usually about the same.

Figure 2 – Tectonic plates, showing relative motion in red arrows (Source: http://worldbuildingschool.com/adding-tectonic-plates-to-your-world-map/ )
I put two and two together and thought, I wonder if tectonic plate motion has to do with where the plates are opposite to each other? Could the weight of one plate squeeze down on the opposite side of the planet, and to equal the force of the pressure, there are spreading centers opposite where mountains are building? What if supercontinents form and breakup every few hundred million years because of a long-term oscillation in the differential isostatic forces (the weights of the plates transferred through the liquid magma of the mantle and outer core) and surface-wise momentum of plate movement? What if inequivalences in the isostatic pressures has to do with the movement of plates? I threw together this shoddy image to try to show if this was the case:

Figure 3 – Antipodal map imperfectly overlaid with plate margins
A few things are incredibly interesting here.

• The mid-ocean ridges of the Indian ocean are shaped very much like the East Pacific Rim.
• The northern extension of the Antarctic plate into the Indian Ocean looks very much like North America.
• The center of Himalayan mountain building is almost exactly opposite to the triple junction of the Nazca plate, where the crustal expansion happens driving the Andes mountain building. It’s almost like the added weight from the collision of the Indian and Asian continents pushes down on the other side of the planet and squeezes out molten rock.
• The shape of Greenland fits very well within the Antarctic plate boundary.
• The center of the South Pacific Ocean is almost opposite the European Alps.
• The center of the North Pacific Ocean is almost opposite the East African Rift Zone, i.e. Hawaii and the East African Rift are almost opposite.
• Australasia fits well around South America.
• The Bering Straight lines up really well with the triple point of the African, South American, and Antarctican plates.
• The Colorado Rockies/Colorado Plateau are almost opposite the spreading center of the Indian Ocean.
• The Antarctic Plate boundary fits close to the edge of northeast Canada.
• The Icelandic hotspot is opposite New Zealand (the recently discovered Zealandia continent) plate boundary.
  

We could go on and on. I feel like the supercontinent oscillation was initiated by the interplanetary collision that produced the moon.

I am no geological expert, but the pictures don’t lie. I haven’t researched if anyone else has thought of this or published on it. So here goes nothing. I think we may have a major discovery on our hands.


-Lucas Dodd


Addendum: I feel like I should say something a bit more elegant, to be fitting. Convergent plate margins loosely correlate to divergent plate margins at their antipode. Heavy mountains weigh downward through the fluid mantle and contribute to mid-ocean ridge spreading opposite to them. Hotspots and plate boundaries have antipodal relationships. This requires future research. Geodynamics just got a whole lot bigger.

These are MY findings! MY FINDINGS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQFp_BRM-G8&ab_channel=doctorodub