Calculation: Mantle's Approach's Ion Cannon

The Feat[]

The origin verse is Halo, and this excerpt is from Halo: Warfleet

The Mantle's Approach has an Ion Cannon which can buckle continental plating, it is a smaller version of Ion Cannons that crack planets.

Parameters[]

Buckling means the following:

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-crippling-and-buckling

"When a structure is subjected to compressive stress, buckling may occur."

So I have to use compressive strength. Continental Crust is made of Granite

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/compression-tension-strength-d_1352.html

Granite’s compression strength is 130 MPa.

Next I need to find the thickness of continents:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Continents.shtml

Continents are 20-80 kilometers thick, or 50 kilometers on average.

==The Calculation

For the calculation, I will be using two methods, each with a low, mid, and highball based off the continental thickness.

Method 1[]

I will base the size of the Ion Cannon blast off the cannon's radius

The Mantle's Approach is 138.6 kilometers wide, and here its width is 246 pixels:

138.6 kilometers = 246 pixels

The cannon is 19 pixels wide, which proportionately makes up to be 10.7 kilometers:

10.7 kilometers = 19 pixels

Now I will plug these numbers into this calculator based off the varying thicknesses

http://www.onlineconversion.com/object_volume_cylinder_tank.htm

20 kilometer thickness: 1798.4047145474767 cubic kilometers
50 kilometer thickness: 4496.011786368692 cubic kilometers
80 kilometer thickness: 7193.618858189907 cubic kilometers

Now plugging in these numbers into compressive strength:

Low-End: 55.8777755 gigatons of tnt (Island level, 6-C)
Mid-End: 139.694439 gigatons of tnt (Large Island level, High 6-C)
High-End: 223.511102 gigatons of tnt (Large Island level, High 6-C)

Method 2[]

Here, I assume this cannon can 'buckle' an entire continent. I will use Europe as a benchmark for 'continental plate'; it has an area of 10,180,000 square kilometers

10,180,000 square kilometers * 50 kilometers = 509,000,000 cubic kilometers

20 kilometer thickness: 203,600,000 cubic kilometers
50 kilometer thickness: 509,000,000 cubic kilometers
80 kilometer thickness: 814,400,000 cubic kilometers