SELF-ORGANIZED BREAKUP OF GONDWANA: AN ARGUMENT AGAINST THE DEEP MANTLE PLUME PARADIGM Jim Sears

1. SELF-ORGANIZED BREAKUP OF GONDWANA: AN ARGUMENT AGAINST THE DEEP MANTLE PLUME PARADIGM Jim Sears University of Montana, USA HEARD ISLAND HOT SPOT

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

3. STATIONARY HOT SPOT VOLCANOES REPRESENT TAILS OF DEEP MANTLE PLUMES

4. LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES (LIPS) REPRESENT HEADS OF DEEP MANTLE PLUMES

5. IN SOME CASES HEADS AND TAILS ARE LINKED BY HOT SPOT TRACKS

6. PLUMES ARE RANDOMLY GENERATED ALONG THE CORE-MANTLE BOUNDARY • PLUME OUTBREAKS INITIATE CONTINENTAL BREAKUP

7. SUCH AS GONDWANA

8. LAWVER ET AL. 1999 1999 UTIG

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32. ARABIA INDIA AFRICA AUSTRALIA FLORIDA ANTARCTICA SOUTH AMERICA N Z HOWEVER, BREAKUP OF GONDWANA WAS NOT RANDOM - IT WAS HIGHLY ORGANIZED AND SELF-ORGANIZED

33. ARABIA INDIA AFRICA AUSTRALIA FLORIDA ANTARCTICA SOUTH AMERICA N Z THESE MAJOR GONDWANA FRACTURE POLYGONS RIGOROUSLY OBEY EULER’S THEOREM FOR CONVEX POLYTOPES

34. ARABIA INDIA AFRICA AUSTRALIA FLORIDA N Z NAMELY, TO TILE A SPHERE WITH 12 OR MORE PLATES, 12 MUST HAVE 5-FOLD SYMMETRY AT VERTICES OF ICOSAHEDRON

35. REMAINING (N-12) PLATES HAVE 6-FOLD SYMMETRY

36. ICOSAHEDRAL ARRANGEMENTS Euler’s formula relating faces (F), vertices (V), and edges (E) of a convex polytope (F + V = E + 2) Zandi & Reguera, 2005

37. ICOSAHEDRAL VIRUS HERPES SIMPLEX Zandi & Reguera, 2005

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

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

40. ANTARCTICA

41. PENTAGON RIFT EDGES ~ 2600 KM 2600 KM 2600 KM 2600 KM

42. P H H H P H P H PENTAGONS AND HEXAGONS IN EXACT ARRANGEMENT

43. PATTERN MINIMIZES TOTAL FRACTURE LENGTH AND THEREFORE MINIMIZES WORK FUNCTION OF STRENGTH OF GONDWANA SHELL

44. CAMP 205 Ma LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?

45. 205 Ma KAROO 183 Ma FERRAR 183 Ma LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?

46. 205 Ma GT 144 Ma 183 Ma 183 Ma N Z LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?

47. 205 Ma 144 Ma PARANA 134 Ma 183 Ma 183 Ma LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?

48. RAJMAHAL 110 Ma 205 Ma 144 Ma 134 Ma 183 Ma 183 Ma LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?

49. DECCAN 65 Ma 110 Ma 205 Ma 144 Ma 134 Ma 183 Ma 183 Ma LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?

50. ETHIOPIAN 38 Ma 65 Ma 110 Ma 205 Ma 144 Ma 134 Ma 183 Ma 183 Ma LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?