In their approach to Earth dynamics the authors consider the fundamentals of Jacobi Dynamics (1987, Reidel) for two reasons. First, because satellite observations have proved that the Earth does not stay in hydrostatic equilibrium, which is the physical basis of today's treatment of geodynamics. And secondly, because satellite data have revealed a relationship between gravitational moments and the potential of the Earth's outer force field (potential energy), which is the basis of Jacobi Dynamics. This has also enabled the authors to come back to the derivation of the classical virial theorem and, after introducing the volumetric forces and moments, to obtain a generalized virial theorem in the form of Jacobi's equation. Thus a physical explanation and rigorous solution was found for the famous Jacobi's equation, where the measure of the matter interaction is the energy.
The main dynamical effects which become understandable by that solution can be summarized as follows: