Plate tectonic raster reconstruction in GPlates

Cannon, John; Lau, E.; Müller, R. Dietmar

doi:10.5194/se-5-741-2014

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Reconstruction is greatly simplified by using a common georeferencing and projection for all raster data sets. GPlates achieves this by resampling all raster data into a cube map representation (Cannon et al, 2014) immediately prior to reconstruction. Rotated tectonic polygon rendering then references these cube map raster data instead of the original georeferenced raster.…”

Section: Raster Visualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

GPlates: Building a Virtual Earth Through Deep Time

Müller

Cannon

Qin

et al. 2018

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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519

334

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GPlates is an open‐source, cross‐platform plate tectonic geographic information system, enabling the interactive manipulation of plate‐tectonic reconstructions and the visualization of geodata through geological time. GPlates allows the building of topological plate models representing the mosaic of evolving plate boundary networks through time, useful for computing plate velocity fields as surface boundary conditions for mantle convection models and for investigating physical and chemical exchanges of material between the surface and the deep Earth along tectonic plate boundaries. The ability of GPlates to visualize subsurface 3‐D scalar fields together with traditional geological surface data enables researchers to analyze their relationships through geological time in a common plate tectonic reference frame. To achieve this, a hierarchical cube map framework is used for rendering reconstructed surface raster data to support the rendering of subsurface 3‐D scalar fields using graphics‐hardware‐accelerated ray‐tracing techniques. GPlates enables the construction of plate deformation zones—regions combining extension, compression, and shearing that accommodate the relative motion between rigid blocks. Users can explore how strain rates, stretching/shortening factors, and crustal thickness evolve through space and time and interactively update the kinematics associated with deformation. Where data sets described by geometries (points, lines, or polygons) fall within deformation regions, the deformation can be applied to these geometries. Together, these tools allow users to build virtual Earth models that quantitatively describe continental assembly, fragmentation and dispersal and are interoperable with many other mapping and modeling tools, enabling applications in tectonics, geodynamics, basin evolution, orogenesis, deep Earth resource exploration, paleobiology, paleoceanography, and paleoclimate.

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Section: Raster Visualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

GPlates: Building a Virtual Earth Through Deep Time

Müller

Cannon

Qin

et al. 2018

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

Self Cite

519

334

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“…The role of the possible complicating factors outlined in the previous section on conjugate margin studies can be evaluated and observed through comparison of different plate tectonic reconstructions. Here, we use the GPlates software (version 2.2), an open-source plate tectonic reconstruction and modelling environment (Boyden et al, 2011;Cannon et al, 2014;Gurnis et al, 2018;Müller et al, 2018), to compare two published plate tectonic models (Matthews et al, 2016;Nirrengarten et al, 2018). Although various reconstructions of the North…”

Section: Comparison Of Plate Tectonic Reconstructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conjugate margins — An oversimplification of the complex southern North Atlantic rift and spreading system?

Peace

Welford

2020

Interpretation

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The prevalence of conjugate margin terminology and studies in the scientific literature is testimony to the contribution that this concept and approach has made to the study of passive margins, and more broadly extensional tectonics. However, when applied to the complex rift, transform, and spreading system of the southern North Atlantic (i.e., the passive margins of Newfoundland, Labrador, Ireland, Iberia, and southern Greenland), it becomes obvious that at these passive continental margin settings, additional geologic phenomena complicate this convenient description. These aspects include (1) the preservation of relatively undeformed continental fragments, (2) formation of transform systems and oblique rifts, (3) triple junctions (with rift and spreading axes), (4) multiple failed rift axes, (5) postbreakup processes such as magmatism, (6) localized subduction, and (7) ambiguity in identification of oceanic isochrons. Comparison of two different published reconstructions of the region indicates the ambiguity in conducting conjugate margin studies. This demonstrates the need for a more pragmatic approach to the study of continental passive margin settings where a greater emphasis is placed on the inclusion of these possibly complicating features in palinspastic reconstructions, plate tectonics, and evolutionary models.

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“…However, because ShowEarthModel is designed for point cloud data, a volumetric viewing software such as ParaView (Henderson et al, ) or 3DVisualizer (Billen et al, ; Jadamec et al, ) would be needed for viewing and extracting isosurfaces from a gridded data volume for a given seismic tomography data set. Furthermore, although ShowEarthModel allows for viewing the time evolution of earthquake sequences, other open‐source software, such as GPlates (Cannon et al, ; Qin et al, ), would be used to view the time evolution of surface plate motions. Thus, it is up to the user to determine the optimal software or collection of software for a given three‐dimensional problem, and this will require trial and error, writing code to append or modify existing software, and/or generating a new program.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Visual Survey of Global Slab Geometries With ShowEarthModel and Implications for a Three‐Dimensional Subduction Paradigm

Jadamec

Kreylos

Chang

et al. 2018

Earth and Space Science

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Increasing volumes of digital data, combined with advances in visualization, allow for a new three‐dimensional (3D) conceptualization of modern subduction systems. Here we present 16 visual exploration sessions with the ShowEarthModel program that interrogate modern slab morphologies on Earth. These virtual voyages through the Earth's interior provide a snapshot into the four‐dimensional evolution of plate tectonics, captured by the modern state of slab structure. Examining the modern subduction system in an interactive 3‐D framework provides an improved conceptualization of the morphology of slabs. The movies demonstrate that unlike the modern mid‐ocean ridge system, modern subduction systems are laterally discontinuous features, making lateral slab edges prevalent. The 3‐D visualizations elucidate the manner in which slabs intersect and overlap, processes that occur in at least six of the Earth's major subduction zones. The observed variability within a given subduction zone as well as the physical presence of intersecting slabs suggests that slab gaps and slab windows are common. The 3‐D rendering shows relative differences in the radius of curvature for arcuate slabs, as well as the variability in dip within a given subduction zone. Addressing the complex geometries of subducted lithosphere in this way can place constraints on outstanding questions of subduction dynamics including slab strength, mantle rheology, mantle flow circulation, and plate‐asthenosphere coupling. By conceptualizing the modern subduction system on Earth in 3‐D space, this paper contributes to the paradigm shift from a two‐dimensional (2‐D) to 3‐D framework for interpreting the subduction process.

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Plate tectonic raster reconstruction in GPlates

Cited by 14 publications

References 17 publications

GPlates: Building a Virtual Earth Through Deep Time

GPlates: Building a Virtual Earth Through Deep Time

Conjugate margins — An oversimplification of the complex southern North Atlantic rift and spreading system?

A Visual Survey of Global Slab Geometries With ShowEarthModel and Implications for a Three‐Dimensional Subduction Paradigm

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