Rapid Continental Reorganization Through Hydraulic Collapse: A Solution to the Heat Problem in Catastrophic Plate Tectonics

This paper proposes a hydraulic collapse mechanism for rapid, global-scale tectonic reorganization that solves the heat dissipation problem plaguing conventional catastrophic plate tectonic models. Rather than accelerating mantle convection, the mechanism invokes sudden failure of hydraulic seals in a fluid-rich pre-flood lithosphere, enabling continental and oceanic blocks to hydroplane on thin water films along shallow detachment horizons. Energy dissipation occurs primarily in water rather than through viscous shear in mantle rock, reducing heat generation by orders of magnitude while maintaining rapid surface motion.

The model operates within Earth's fixed water budget, invoking redistribution from distributed crustal storage to concentrated ocean basins and mantle transition zone reservoirs. It produces structured deposition during catastrophic conditions through hydraulic sorting, ecological zonation preservation, and basin-scale processes, and transitions naturally into the mantle-convection-driven plate tectonic regime observed today.

The framework generates testable predictions distinguishing it from both uniformitarian processes and geothermally driven catastrophic models, including signatures of rapid slip along large-scale detachments, chaotic megabreccias at basin boundaries, pressure and thermal anomalies indicating rapid burial, and geochemical signatures of massive fluid flow.

This preprint presents the core mechanics, energy budget analysis, and observational predictions. Supplementary appendices with detailed mathematical models and energy calculations are in preparation.