  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.
