1. 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

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

3. STATIONARY HOT SPOT VOLCANOES: TAILS OF DEEP MANTLE PLUMES?

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

5. HEADS AND TAILS LINKED BY HOT SPOT TRACKS?

6.  PLUMES RANDOMLY GENERATED AT CORE-MANTLE BOUNDARY?  PLUME OUTBREAKS INITIATE CONTINENTAL BREAKUP?

7. GONDWANA AUST ANTARCTICA NZ AF SA INDIA

8.  1999 UTIG ACCEPTED MODEL FOR GONDWANA BREAKUP LAWVER ET AL. 1999 CAMP - FERNANDO

9.  1999 UTIG KAROO-BOUVET

10.  1999 UTIG GALLODAI- MARION

11.  1999 UTIG PARANA-TRISTAN

12.  1999 UTIG RAJMAHAL- KERGUELEN BANBURY-HEARD

13.  1999 UTIG HOTSPOT CONSTELLATION

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

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

16. GONDWANA HOT SPOT FAMILY HEARD ST HELENAMARION BOUVET FERNANDOTRISTAN GOUGH CROZET KERGUELEN ASCENCION

17. THESE MAJOR GONDWANA FRACTURE POLYGONS RIGOROUSLY OBEY EULER’S THEOREM FOR CONVEX POLYTOPES BENUE TACUTU GODAV ARI WEDELL TRANSKEI PERU-PARAGUAY DISCONTINUITY

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

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

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

21. ICOSAHEDRAL VIRUS HERPES SIMPLEX

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

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

24. ANTARCTICA

25. PENTAGON RIFT EDGES ~ 2600 KM 2600 KM

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

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

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

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

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

31.  CONCORDANCE OF FAMILY OF HOT SPOTS WITH FRACTURE TESSELLATION  SHOWS HOT SPOTS ARE NON-RANDOM

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

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

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

35.  FRACTURE SYSTEM INDICATES GONDWANA WAS UNDER UNIFORM TENSION

36. HOTSPOTS ON TESSELLATION NOTE SYMMETRY OF STRESS TESSELLATION ACROSS GONDWANA

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

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

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

40.  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