Earth surface evolution: a Phanerozoic gridded dataset of Global Plate Model reconstructions
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This repository provides access to five reconstruction files as well as the code and the static polygons and rotation files used to generate them. This set of palaeogeographic reconstruction files provide palaeocoordinates for three global grids at H3 resolutions 2, 3, and 4, which have an average cell spacing of ~316 km, ~119 km, and ~45 km. Grids were reconstructed at a temporal resolution of one million years throughout the entire Phanerozoic (540–0 Ma). The reconstruction files are stored as comma-separated-value (CSV) files which can be easily read by almost any spreadsheet program (e.g. Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets) or programming language (e.g. Python, Julia, and R). In addition, R Data Serialization (RDS) files—a common format for saving R objects—are also provided as lighter (and compressed) alternatives to the CSV files. The structure of the reconstruction files follows a wide-form data frame structure to ease indexing. Each file consists of three initial index columns relating to the H3 cell index (i.e. the 'H3 address'), present-day longitude of the cell centroid, and the present-day latitude of the cell centroid. The subsequent columns provide the reconstructed longitudinal and latitudinal coordinate pairs for their respective age of reconstruction in ascending order, indicated by a numerical suffix. Each row contains a unique spatial point on the Earth's continental surface reconstructed through time. NA values within the reconstruction files indicate points which are not defined in deeper time (i.e. either the static polygon does not exist at that time, or it is outside the temporal coverage as defined by the rotation file). The following five Global Plate Models are provided (abbreviation, temporal coverage, reference): WR13, 0–550 Ma, (Wright et al., 2013) MA16, 0–410 Ma, (Matthews et al., 2016) TC16, 0–540 Ma, (Torsvik and Cocks, 2016) SC16, 0–1100 Ma, (Scotese, 2016) ME21, 0–1000 Ma, (Merdith et al., 2021) In addition, the H3 grids for resolutions 2, 3, and 4 are provided. For more information, please refer to the article describing the data: Jones, L.A. and Domeier, M.M. 2023. Earth surface evolution: a Phanerozoic gridded dataset of Global Plate Model reconstructions. (TBC). For any additional queries, contact: Mathew M. Domeier (mathewd@uio.no) or Lewis A . Jones (lewisa.jones@outlook.com) If you use these files, please cite: Jones, L.A. and Domeier, M.M. 2023. Earth surface evolution: a Phanerozoic gridded dataset of Global Plate Model reconstructions. Zenodo data repository. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.10069222The feedback between plate tectonics and mantle convection controls the Earth's thermal evolution via the seafloor age distribution. We therefore designed the MACMA model to simulate time‐dependent plate tectonics in a 2D cylindrical geometry with evolutive plate boundaries, based on multiagent systems that express thermal and mechanical interactions. We compute plate velocities using a local force balance and use explicit parameterizations to treat tectonic processes such as trench migration, subduction initiation, continental breakup and plate suturing. These implementations allow the model to update its geometry and thermal state at all times. Our approach has two goals: (1) to test how empirically‐ and analytically‐determined rules for surface processes affect mantle and plate dynamics, and (2) to investigate how plate tectonics impact the thermal regime. Our predictions for driving forces, plate velocities and heat flux are in agreement with independent observations. Two time scales arise for the evolution of the heat flux: a linear long‐term decrease and high‐amplitude short‐term fluctuations due to surface tectonics. We also obtain a plausible thermal history, with mantle temperature decreasing by less than 200 K over the last 3 Gyr. In addition, we show that on the long term, mantle viscosity is less thermally influential than tectonic processes such as continental breakup or subduction initiation, because Earth's cooling rate depends mainly on its ability to replace old insulating seafloor by young thin oceanic lithosphere. We infer that simple convective considerations alone cannot account for the nature of mantle heat loss and that tectonic processes dictate the thermal evolution of the Earth.
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Abstract The plate tectonics revolution was the most significant advance in our understanding of the Earth in the twentieth century, but initially it had little impact on the discipline of geomorphology. Topography and landscape development were not considered to be important phenomena that deserved attention from the broader Earth-science community in the context of the new model of global tectonics. This situation began to change from the 1980s as various technical innovations enabled landscape evolution to be modelled numerically at the regional to subcontinental scales relevant to plate tectonics, and rates of denudation to be quantified over geological timescales. These developments prompted interest amongst Earth scientists from fields such as geophysics, geochemistry and geochronology in understanding the evolution of topography, the role of denudation in influencing patterns of crustal deformation, and the interactions between tectonics and surface processes. This trend was well established by the end of the century, and has become even more significant up to the present. In this chapter I review these developments and illustrate how plate tectonics has been related to landscape development, especially in the context of collisional orogens and passive continental margins. I also demonstrate how technical innovations have been pivotal to the expanding interest in macroscale landscape development in the era of plate tectonics, and to the significant enhancement of the status of the discipline of geomorphology in the Earth sciences over recent decades.
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Continental drift
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Numerical models of mantle convection are starting to reproduce many of the essential features of continental drift and plate tectonics. The authors show how such methods can integrate a wide variety of geophysical and geological observations. The goal is to combine the Stokes and energy equations with a realistic rheology, thereby letting us understand the complex dynamic coupling that occurs in the mantle and that gives rise to plate tectonics and other surface features. This approach holds great promise because it makes a tremendous amount of data relevant to understanding Earth's dynamics. The challenge is that the computational models must be inherently realistic, particularly when predicting observed geography or plate history, so that the models can be connected with observations. The authors view this as one of the most exciting future directions of computational geodynamics.
geodynamics
Continental drift
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The Phanerozoic; reconciling modern plate tectonics with ancient orogenic systems and crustal growth
[Extract] Phanerozoic Earth history affords us the previous opportunity of understanding the links between active tectonic processes and crustal growth, because we have the oceanic and continental record to combine into a coherent, whole-Earth geodynamic model.
Earth history
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