The contraction tectonic hypothesis is based on the assumption that the Earth is contracting because it is cooling. Consequently, an evaluation of the hypothesis requires a review of the thermal history of the Earth to determine whether or not the Earth as a whole has undergone thermal contraction during any or all of its lifetime.
Among the first modern evaluations of the Earth's thermal history was the one made by Jacobs (1956a, 1956b). Others (Lubimova, 1958, 1967, 1969; MacDonald, 1959) also devised thermal history models based on the assumption that heat transfer was by conduction, with or without radiative transfer, and computed the thermal history implied by these models. These early thermal history models led Reitan (1960)to derive their implications with regard to the Earth's volume change through time and to conclude that contraction was not a likely or adequate fundamental cause of orogenesis. However, since convection, rather than conduction, is now established beyond...
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Reitan, P.H. (1987). Contraction tectonic hypothesis, thermal history evaluation . In: Structural Geology and Tectonics. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31080-0_17
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