Triple Tectonic

Fractal thingy 532

Last deviation was crazy mythology so now I counter with science.

The theory of plate tectonics is fairly well established. The crust is made up of plates that rest ontop the mantle and slowy move around. Where plates meet they either collide, separate or slide against each other. Based off of evidence, the plates have significantly changed positions several times over the billions of years of history. At some times the continents were Clustered at the poles, other times they were clumped together as one big supercontinent or spread around like they are now.

When the continents meet, they fuse. This is like how India is merging with the rest of Asia. This creates a vast mountain range. The last supercontinent stage was Pangea, with all the continents together. But before that there was also Rodinia and Columbia (not modern Columbia). When continents get too big they start to block too much of the heat trying to escape form within. The heat builds up under the plates, weakening them.

What happens next is at one point the energy breaks through and from that one point of weakness 3 cracks radiate outwards. Along these cracks, the plate starts tearing apart . A good example of this happening today is in East Africa. The three faults occur in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Africa Rift Valley. Each one is growing wider over time. One day the Africa Rift Valley will open up and be flooded by the ocean. As a result, the Arabian plate is currently moving away from Africa.

The rifting open of the three valleys is not a stable motion. It is unlikely that all three arms are opening at the same speed, what happens is the slowest one stops opening an remains a depressed long valley. The other two continue to open up and form an ocean. So depending on how things go a piece of Africa could separate off and become an island with a vast sea between, or the Red sea could continue to open and fully connect the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. This same process is what opened up the Atlantic Ocean. That is also why the plate boundries are not straight lines, but rather seem to zig and zag. The arm that fails to open often becomes the main drainage for the continent. Both the Mississippi River Valley in the USA and the St.Lawrence River in Canada were the result of continents rifting But failing to open there. The failed arm is called an Aulacogen.

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In this fractal my little hexagon shapes are separated by cracks going in 3 directions, so I reminded my of tectonic plates. The green land, blue sea, and orange magma in the middle. Its a variant spot what is used to make sprinski triangles, but with hexagons instead. It doesn't work as nicely, but I like doing them. It also like a puzzle, but it is not the type of jigsaw puzzle I ever what to attemt....