Masao Gorai

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Masao Gorai
Masao Gorai
Born (1916-12-00)December 0, 1916 Template:Error Template:Error
Died (2002-02-04)February 4, 2002
Residence Haramachi-Shi, Japan
Nationality Japanese
Known for Expanding Earth
Scientific career
Fields Geologist

Gorai was born in 1916, graduated from the Tokyo University of Education and dedicated all his life to the study of magmatism and earth evolution. He was one of the three founding members of the Geological Collaboration Association of Japan (CHIDANKEN). The paper on Gorai Twin first appeared in a Japanese journal in 1947, and petrologists in other parts of the world had to wait until 1951 when the paper was published in American Mineralogist. The method enabled the distinction between igneous and metamorphic granites, a topic of hot debates in the 1940s to 1950s. In addition to his above classic paper, Gorai also published another important paper in 1951, as the clear antithesis to the Bowen?s primary basaltic magma theory, emphasizing the role of the interaction of crustal material and mantle material in the process of magma generation. In middle 1950s, M. Gorai changed the idea of granite genesis from the granitization of sedimentary rocks to mantle derivation through his new study of Pb isotopes. He inaugurated and developed the isotopic petrology laboratory in his department, and made many pioneer and advanced studies based on both Rb?Sr and Sm?Nd isotopic systematics, opening a new generation of petrologists and isotope geochemists. M. Gorai?s first series of Japanese textbooks, Petrogenesis of Igneous Rocks appeared in 1955-1958. The books carried a series of ideas of magma generation through mantle-crust interaction. These, and his subsequent works encouraged many young Japanese researchers. M. Gorai was in agreement with the Masao Gorai (1916-2002) Gondwana Research (Gondwana Newsletter Section) V. 6, No. 4, pp. 938-939. ? 2003 International Association for Gondwana Research, Japan. GNL Gondwana Research, V. 6, No. 4, 2003 939 Wegener?s continental drift theory, but disagreed to extend it into further earlier times. He was inclined more towards the concept of expanding earth, and considered this responsible for the principal dispersion of the supercontinent in the Cretaceous time. His textbooks after the 1970s are based on the above idea.

In His Own Words

"I have been investigating the tectonic and enigmatic evolution of the Earth for the past twelve years. As a result I believe now that the most fundamental motive force responsible for such evolutional processes is the Earth's expansion, which might have happened through the inversion of super-dense phases deep in the Earth into ordinary molecular phases. The inversion may perhaps be the result of pressure decrease which is due to the secular decrease of G in the expanding universe. As an alternative, however, I would like to notice the problem of secular temperature increase deep in the Earth.

Through my study, I have been much inspired by several forerunners of the Earth's expansion hypothesis, especially by the excellent book of Dr. S. W. Carey, published in 1976."