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
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
SOUTH
AMERICA
ANTARCTICA
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
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
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
HOTSPOTS
ON
SYMMETRICAL
TO FRACTURES
WHEN GONDWANA IS RESTORED
TESSELLATION
TO TRIASSIC POSITION
GONDWANA SPREAD OUTWARD
HOTSPOTS
ON
DOWN
GEOID GRADIENT
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