SELFORGANIZED BREAKUP OF GONDWANA by JIM SEARS UNIVERSITY

SELF-ORGANIZED BREAKUP OF GONDWANA by JIM SEARS UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA MAIN CONCLUSIONS: §BREAKUP OF GONDWANA WAS SELF-ORGANIZED TO MINIMIZE WORK §ARGUES AGAINST DEEP MANTLE PLUMES HEARD ISLAND HOT SPOT

THE DEEP MANTLE PLUME PARADIGM: AN INTEGRAL PART OF PLATE TECTONICS SINCE J. T. WILSON (1963) AND W. J. MORGAN (1981)

STATIONARY HOT SPOT VOLCANOES: TAILS OF DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?

LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES (LIPS): HEADS OF DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?

HEADS AND TAILS LINKED BY HOT SPOT TRACKS?

§PLUMES RANDOMLY GENERATED AT CORE-MANTLE BOUNDARY? §PLUME OUTBREAKS INITIATE CONTINENTAL BREAKUP?

INDIA GONDWANA AUST AF ANTARCTICA NZ SA

CAMP - FERNANDO ACCEPTED MODEL FOR GONDWANA BREAKUP LAWVER ET AL. 1999 UTIG

KAROO-BOUVET 1999 UTIG

GALLODAIMARION 1999 UTIG

PARANA-TRISTAN 1999 UTIG

RAJMAHALKERGUELEN BANBURY-HEARD 1999 UTIG

HOTSPOT CONSTELLATION 1999 UTIG

ARABIA INDIA AFRICA A FLO RID LIA RA ANTARCTICA ST AU SOUTH AMERICA NZ HOWEVER, BREAKUP OF GONDWANA WAS NOT RANDOM IT WAS HIGHLY SELF-ORGANIZED

ETHIOPIAN 38 Ma CAMP 205 Ma RAJMAHAL 110 Ma MARANHAO 200 Ma PARANA 134 Ma DECCAN 65 Ma KAROO 183 Ma GALLODAI 144 Ma TRANSKEI LIMPOBO FERRAR 183 Ma LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES

ST HELENA MARION CROZET KERGUELEN ASCENCION HEARD FERNANDO TRISTAN BOUVET GOUGH GONDWANA HOT SPOT FAMILY

RI BE NU E VA DA GO TRANSKE L EL ED W PE R DI U-P SC A ON RA TI GU NU A IT Y Y TAC UTU I THESE MAJOR GONDWANA FRACTURE POLYGONS RIGOROUSLY OBEY EULER’S THEOREM FOR CONVEX POLYTOPES

GONDWANA NAMELY, TO TILE A SPHERE WITH 12 + PLATES, 12 MUST HAVE 5 -FOLD SYMMETRY AT PRECISELY-DEFINED VERTICES OF ICOSAHEDRON

GONDWANA REMAINING (N-12) PLATES HAVE 6 -FOLD SYMMETRY

ICOSAHEDRAL ARRANGEMENTS Euler’s formula relating faces (F), vertices (V ), and edges (E) of a convex polytope (F + V = E + 2)

ICOSAHEDRAL VIRUS HERPES SIMPLEX

FINITE ELEMENT SOLUTION FOR THOMSON PROBLEM WITH 912 CHARGES ON SPHERE (Altschuler et al. , 1997)

GONDWANA EDGE LENGTHS AND CENTERS ARE RIGOROUSLY DEFINED EACH EDGE = 2600 KM AT EARTH SCALE

ANTARCTICA

PENTAGON RIFT EDGES ~ 2600 KM 26 00 KM

P GONDWANA H H H P P H PENTAGONS AND HEXAGONS IN EXACT ARRANGEMENT H

P GONDWANA H H H P P H 16 EDGES, >20, 000 KM H

GONDWANA STRONGER PATTERN MINIMIZES TOTAL FRACTURE LENGTH AND THEREFORE MINIMIZES WORK FUNCTION OF STRENGTH OF GONDWANA SHELL GONDWANA WEAKER

GONDWANA STRONGER PATTERN MINIMIZES TOTAL FRACTURE LENGTH AND THEREFORE MINIMIZES WORK FUNCTION OF STRENGTH OF GONDWANA SHELL X GONDWANA WEAKER

§LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES ERUPTED DIACHRONOUSLY ALONG FRACTURE PATTERN §DEPENDED ON PLATE TECTONICS TO OPEN FRACTURES TO INDUCE DECOMPRESSION MELTING

§CONCORDANCE OF FAMILY OF HOT SPOTS WITH FRACTURE TESSELLATION § SHOWS HOT SPOTS ARE NON-RANDOM

YELLOW STRESS TESSELLATION IS DUAL OF FRACTURE TESSELLATION: HOTSPOTS ON THEY CROSS ONE ANOTHER TESSELLATION ORTHOGONALLY

HOOP STRESS ALONG NORTHERN GONDWANA MARGIN HOTSPOTS ON NOTE RADIAL FRACTURES AT TESSELLATION MARGIN

NOTE PERFECT SYMMETRY OF EXPANSION OF GONDWANA LEADS STRESS TESSELLATION ACROSS TO FRACTURES GONDWANA HOTSPOTS ON TESSELLATION HOTSPOTS FAVOR CENTERS

§FRACTURE SYSTEM INDICATES GONDWANA WAS UNDER UNIFORM TENSION

NOTE SYMMETRY OF STRESS TESSELLATION ACROSS GONDWANA HOTSPOTS ON TESSELLATION

§INITIAL GEOMETRY OF GONDWANA DETERMINED BEST ORIENTATION OF TESSELLATION TO ACHIEVE MINIMUM FRACTURE LENGTH §AND THEREFORE LEAST WORK

AFRICAN GEOID ANOMALY SYMMETRICAL TO FRACTURES WHEN GONDWANA IS RESTORED TO TRIASSIC POSITION HOTSPOTS ON TESSELLATION

GONDWANA SPREAD OUTWARD DOWN GEOID GRADIENT HOTSPOTS ON TESSELLATION SEE ANDERSON, 1982

§GONDWANA STALLED ON MANTLE FRAMEWORK §INSULATED UNDERLYING MANTLE §THERMAL EXPANSION OF MANTLE DROVE UPLIFT AND UNIFORM TENSION IN GONDWANA §FRACTURE TESSELLATION OCCURRED AT CLIMAX OF UPLIFT, IN EARLY TRIASSIC §FRACTURES LATER SEPARATED AS REQUIRED BY PLATE TECTONICS, DRIVING DECOMPRESSION MELTING