The closing of the Pacific brings the planet surface to the point before the seabeds spread. When all the continental shelves meet the sphere has an approximate diameter of 6,800 km, an expansion which appears to be caused by displacement from the 2,000 km wide object which entered the planet's interior through the Indian plate.

The original shields are separated at this stage only by the younger continental rock that lies between them. This is at the point before the beginning of the second expansion.

( it should be re-iterated at this point that these reconstructions are based on the positioning of the extensional and compressional fault lines, the surface magnetic field, the age of the areas of rock and the areas of volcanic activity )

NOTE: This section deals only with the basic surface activity. The questions of interior and the second expansion will be dealt with separately. See: Full Sequence And Notes