Ma is evidence of growth of the Pacific plate in the very area where subduction is supposed to be taking place. This westward growth of the northern Pacific plate, starting from North America, where the sediments are youngest, provides an explanation for the unilateral growth pattern of the northern Pacific basin seafloor that distinguishes it from the bi-lateral growth patterns of midocean ridges currently found in the southern Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean basins. The pattern of decreasing sediment ages is what one would expect as new magma filled the void created by planetary expansion driving the continents apart. Some major questions are raised by the findings of Nakanishi, et al, relative to the unilateral growth pattern of the North Pacific basin. A related question concerning the breakup of Pangaea is whether Australia and Africa broke away from South America simultaneously, or whether Australia was first, followed by Africa.
Expansion is evident also in the oblate figure of the Earth.
This continuing unequal growth in the southern hemisphere should be recognized as the cause of the oblate, or pear-shaped, figure of the Earth. Contrary to the belief of some investigators, continents do not drift willy-nilly about the Earth's surface. In the same manner, Antarctica moved southward from its earlier connections with the other continents. The history of the Indian Ocean is not so clear. It is evident from the way the Carlsberg Ridge comes out of the Gulf of Aden and then branches to the right and left, that Africa and Australia were probably connected at one time.