ABSTRACT
The plate tectonics theory had a profound and positive impact on the progress of Earth sciences. Its main principles were confirmed by later observations. But at the same time it has become obvious that these principles were primarily oversimplified, that the theory underestimated some substantial phenomena of Earth structure and evolution (intraplate tectonics and magmatism, in particular), and finally that it could be applied only to the uppermost part of the solid Earth, to a depth of ca. 400 km, and to the latest interval of its history, ca. 1000 Ma. All these necessitate the replacement of the classical plate tectonics by a genuine global geodynamic model, comprising plate tectonics as one of its elements. Main requirements to such a future model are formulated.
