The geologic process of Plate Tectonics has been on-going for the past 2½ billion years. In a continuous progression, as the Mid-Oceanic Spreading Center (the driving force of this inexorable process) creates new ocean seafloor it is simultaneously consumed thousands of miles away in a Subduction Zone (Figure 3). Remarkable Franciscan Complex stones and gems originated and were transformed over geologic time by this system.
