Plate Tectonics Load Balancing

Par 7
Question 20advancedSheet 1750822302

Deep Breath

A geological monitoring system treats continental drift as a distributed computing problem with extremely slow response times. Load balancing across tectonic plates requires planning for million-year migration patterns and earthquake-induced failovers. The system must handle volcanic activity that literally melts server farms built on active geological boundaries. Your task: Design continent-scale load balancing while accounting for geological time scales and volcanic infrastructure destruction.

Why You're Doing This

You're building a distributed system with geological constraints and million-year planning horizons. This tests long-term resource planning, disaster recovery across geological timescales, and infrastructure resilience to natural forces. It's like AWS but with more lava and million-year deployment cycles.

Take the W

  • Accounts for continental drift in infrastructure planning
  • Implements volcanic failover procedures
  • Plans for geological timescale changes

Hard L

  • Ignores earthquake and volcanic risks
  • Plans infrastructure on unstable geological boundaries
  • Uses human timescales for geological processes

Edge Cases

  • Supervolcano eruption destroying entire continental infrastructure
  • Ice age making northern servers inaccessible for millennia
  • Continental collision creating new mountain ranges through data centers
  • Sea level changes submerging coastal server farms
  • Magnetic pole reversal affecting satellite communication systems
Input Format:
Geological data with infrastructure requirements and million-year planning constraints
Expected Output:
Tectonic load balancing system with geological timeline optimization
Example:
{plates: ['north_american:stable', 'pacific:active'], timeline: '10_million_years', seismic: 'moderate'} → {distribution: 'pacific_primary_continental_backup', failover: 'yellowstone_protocol', planning: 'supervolcano_cycle'}
Hints
  • 💡 Continental drift rate: ~2-5 cm/year affects long-term infrastructure placement
  • 💡 Volcanic supervolcano cycles: Yellowstone erupts every ~640,000 years
  • 💡 Earthquake zones require redundant infrastructure and quick failover