CompuServe Messages

My uploaded answer was not posted, so I guess I still have to edit on-line. Some of your assumptions imply that there is no slow tectonic process, or at least no way to prove such a slow process directly. There are two direct methods for measuring continental drift. Terrestial geodosy measures distance between two closely placed markers near a fault line. Radi interferometry measures distances between radi receivers that can be far apart (thousands of miles) and detect changes of only inches. One such device for radio interferometry is the Global Positioning System (yes, I have those references, finally). Both methods clearly show the existence of continental drift. Field geologists are at least postulating with an entity that can be validated at the present time by independent means. Your grand catastrophe is an unexplained entity that can be used to explain anything. By Occams Razor, I prefer expal explanations sticking to entities that can be validated independent of my theory. Anyway, the flow of continental drift occurs through solids that are really plastic, i.e., they flow under sufficient pressure. Impure solids with defects usually have plastic properties. Your image of turbulent liquids is really a straw man, not a true picture of continental drift. Small changes accumalate. Zeno was wrong, sorry.