Rifts in Spreading Wax Layers

Details Rifts in Spreading Wax Layers Rifts in Spreading Wax Layers

1995-10-19

arxiv.org/abs/chao-dyn/9510012v1

Nonlinear Sciences

Chaotic Dynamics

4 pages, Postscript file

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.3456

We report experimental results on the rift formation between two freezing wax plates. The plates were pulled apart with constant velocity, while floating on the melt, in a way akin to the tectonic plates of the earth's crust. At slow spreading rates, a rift, initially perpendicular to the spreading direction, was found to be stable, while above a critical spreading rate a "spiky" rift with fracture zones almost parallel to the spreading direction developed. At yet higher spreading rates a second transition from the spiky rift to a zig-zag pattern occurred. In this regime the rift can be characterized by a single angle which was found to be dependent on the spreading rate. We show that the oblique spreading angles agree with a simple geometrical model. The coarsening of the zig-zag pattern over time and the three-dimensional structure of the solidified crust are also discussed.

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