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.  1999 UTIG LAWVER ET AL. 1999

9.  1999 UTIG

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

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

34. AFRICA INDIA ARABIA AUSTRALIA N Z FLORIDA 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. Euler’s formula relating faces (F), vertices (V ), and edges (E) of a convex polytope (F + V = E + 2) ICOSAHEDRAL ARRANGEMENTS 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

51. ~2000 KM DOMES

52. AFRICA SOUTH AMERICA ARABIA ANTARCTICA AUSTRALIA N Z FLORIDA INDIA 3-ARMED RIFTS MANY ARE 2600 KM 2600 KM 16 EDGES, >20,000 KM P P H H H H H P

53.  LARGE IGNEOUS PROVINCES ERUPT DIACHRONOUSLY ALONG FRACTURE PATTERN  DEPEND ON PLATE TECTONICS TO OPEN FRACTURES TO INDUCE DECOMPRESSION MELTING

54. HOTSPOTS ON TESSELLATION

55.  1999 UTIG BEST FIT OF HOT SPOT TESSELLATION

56.  CONCORDANCE OF A FAMILY OF HOT SPOTS WITH FRACTURE TESSELLATION IMPLIES PLATE WAS STATIONARY DURING THEIR FORMATION

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

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

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

60.  FRACTURE SYSTEM INDICATES THE GONDWANA WAS UNDER UNIFORM TENSION

61. HOTSPOTS ON TESSELLATION NOTE PERFECT SYMMETRY OF STRESS TESSELLATION ACROSS GONDWANA HOTSPOTS FAVOR CENTERS

62.  INITIAL GEOMETRY OF GONDWANA DETERMINED BEST ORIENTATION OF TESSELLATION TO ACHIEVE MINIMUM FRACTURE LENGTH

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

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

65.  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