The Pplates software package
Mapping in time - from the real or material Earth to ancient virtual worlds
Pplates can be used to build
Virtual Worlds,
each
constructed for a
particular time in the past,
starting with the Virtual Earth made up of 3D meshes that
describe the
geometry of the
planetary lithosphere
in present subduction zones.
Plate tectonic reconstruction in a classical sense involves the motion of rigid plates on the surface of a sphere. This approach might allow a reasonable approximation to the motion of the oceanic lithosphere, but there are severe difficulties that are encountered once we begin to consider the more fluid-like behaviour of orogenic zones. Plate tectonic theory needs more than trivial revision to allow us to circumvent this difficulty, since it is necessary to reconcile the rigid movement of oceanic 'plates' with the more penetrative deformation of continents. This opens up important lines of research and these impact on a large range of Earth Science endeavours: affecting aspects as diverse as those to do with natural hazard research, such as the behaviour of giant tsunamigenic megathrusts, or more pragmatically, upon the aspects that control the timing and location of rich mineral and resource deposits.
To examine these questions we need to further the eScience of spatio-temporal reconstruction: here by developing software that allows planet-scale through to regional-scale tectonic reconstruction. On the one hand we want to be able to be able to link the results of such reconstructions with information systems that assist in developing practical mineral or resource exploration paradigms. Similarly we want the results of a reconstruction to be able to be utilized as input, or as a global boundary constraint, for geodynamic modelling.
The Pplates desktop tectonic reconstruction software is designed to allow structural geology and tectonics research involving small-scale to large-scale heterogeneous movements, including movements on faults and shear zones, at regional, continental, or planetary scales. Pplates flexibly accomplishes this diversity by implementing a different reconstruction paradigm, involving deformable, tearable meshes. Properties such as an Euler pole and rotation become derivative properties, not the primary input data.
To access and utilize Pplates, go to the software repository. If you want us to give you a hand, develop the specifications for a use case, and let us know. To download an disk image with Pplates.app and some startup files - press here. If you are interested in becoming a user of the NCRIS AuScope software machine, the links provided above allow direct access to the scientists building the individual components.
Pplates is being designed and built by Dr Joe Kurtz and Professor Gordon Lister. The outline and component map illustrates the various facets of this project.