Tectonic microplates in a wax model of sea-floor spreading

doi:10.1088/1367-2630/7/1/037

Tectonic microplates in a wax model of sea-floor spreading

Author

Richard F Katz ¹, Rolf Ragnarsson ² and Eberhard Bodenschatz ^2,3

Affiliations

¹ Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
² Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
³ Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany

E-mail

katz@ldeo.columbia.edu

Journal

New Journal of Physics Create an alert RSS this journal

Issue

Volume 7, 2005

Citation

Richard F Katz et al 2005 New J. Phys. 7 37

doi: 10.1088/1367-2630/7/1/037

Article References Cited By Supplementary Data

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Abstract

Rotating, growing microplates are observed in a wax analogue model of sea-floor spreading. Wax microplates are kinematically similar to sea-floor tectonic microplates in terms of spreading rate and growth rate. Furthermore, their spiral pseudofault geometry is quantitatively consistent with Schouten's oceanic microplate model. These results suggest that Schouten's edge-driven microplate model captures the kinematics of tectonic microplate evolution on Earth. Based on the wax observations, a theory for the nucleation of overlapping spreading centres, the precursors of tectonic microplates, is developed.

PACS

91.50.Ey Ocean bottom processes

91.50.Ga Bathymetry and noncoastal underwater morphology

91.50.Rt Mid-ocean ridge processes

MSC