He sees transform faults being created, rift valleys opening and spiral structures called microplates forming. But the Cornell University physicist does not have an omnipotent view of the planet's ocean floor. Instead he is watching a model of tectonic evolution in a tub of molten wax. Remarkably, these phenomena appear to be similar to the Earth. His experiments, which build on research going back to the 1970s, examine phenomena similar to ocean floor spreading.
Cold air is blown over the wax surface so that a solid layer is formed.
The solid wax layer represents the Earth's cold and hard lithosphere, and the molten wax below, the Earth's plastic upper mantle. The solid layer of wax is divided, and the two halves are pulled apart with constant velocity. For example, at very slow spreading rates, the rift remains straight with a deep valley, its lowest point at the rift axis. At medium rates the large-scale structure of the rift remains flat, interrupted by transform faults and curious structures called microplates. At fast rates the pattern is dominated by transform faults and fracture zones.