The relationship of fractals in geophysics to “the new science”

Many phenomena in geophysics satisfy fractal statistics, examples range from the frequency–area statistics of earthquakes to the time series of the earth’s magnetic field. Solutions to classical differential equations cannot give this type of behavior. Several “cellular automata” models have successfully reproduced the observed statistics. For example, the slider-block model for earthquakes. Stephen Wolfram’s recent book A New Kind of Science sets forth a “new science” based on cellular automata. This paper discusses the role of cellular automata in geophysics.