THEORY OF THE EARTH AS A GIANT PRESSURE COOKER.

Khwairakpam Gajananda 

During the late nineteenth century, Edward Suess a geologist from Austria suggested that all the southern hemisphere continents, together with India, were once assembled into a single large landmass or super continent (known as Pangaea), which he called Gondwanaland. Later on Taylor (1908), an American geologist and Alfred Wegner (1912), a German meteorologist incorporated both the geological evidences and meteorological mechanisms of this great continental break; the idea of Continental Drift Theory thus remains a reality.

How this ‘continental drift’ took place during the last 4.6 billion years of earth’s history is rather perplexed or unexplainable. The various Scientists of the world thought that it so happened due to earthquakes, volcanoes, climatic extremes (cooling or warming and both long and short term ice ages) or movement of the tectonic plates on the surface of the earth. External forces like meteorite bombardments, solar flares and meteorological mechanisms on the planet are also postulated. However, the question of “Why earthquakes, volcanoes, climatic extremes or plate tectonic movement took place on the surface of the earth?” is rather an unanswered question.

A new theory proposed now is that the earth is like a “giant pressure cooker” of which the ‘Sun’ heats the surface continuously during the last 4.6 billion years and also heated the liquids present inside it. The solid earth crust covered the liquid magma, which is more than 6650⁰C at the core. The earth does not have a nozzle or whistle to release its pressure like in the case of our present day pressure cooker, however, it released its pressures through various volcanoes, cracks and fissures present both inside the ocean and the land surfaces. The intensities of the pressures released or oozing out of magma are variable from time to time. In some case, the leakages are high like the June and July 1991 Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption. Mount Pinatubo was once believed to be inactive volcano till that year eruptions, which surprised everyone. During the last 40-50 millions of years, no major released of the earth pressure took place, which can or may wiped out the earth’s populations like in the case of the 60-65 million years ago, when all the dinosaurs were extinct.

Similar to the present day pressure cooker phenomena, which used to release the pressures periodically, the earth also need to release its pressure or ooze out its magma with some forces, during its courses within the Solar System. Of course, it might have released its pressures several times, during these 4.6 billion years. However, intermittent leakages like in the case of real pressure cooker (small volcanic eruptions in the case of earth) took place to reduce the pressure inside it. But a time always comes, when the pressures inside the vessel released with full forces and at a very high speed and sound. This must be the time, many apocalyptic hypothesis were prediction for the 'End of the World' by different civilizations, societies or races. For example, the Mayan Apocalypse of Friday, December 21, 2012. Indeed, the Mayan prophecy missed the timeline, however, the 'Pressure Cooker Theory' will not miss in future!