Fun with puzzle maps, part II

 Having moved from Cambridge to my family home in SW FR, I found the historic map puzzle i described here on a previous visit. 

It's a 1985 AGI classic... but almost 40 yrs later this paper shows plate tectonics are still very much alive and works-in-progress! Having moved off ESRI due to economics - they very kindly left my data on arcgis.com personal and professional portfolios -  I reloaded QGIS and presto! the GlobalGeotectonics map appeared in full glory. The QGIS and github repos make it a snap depending on your preference. 

paper original here (click to enlarge)

QGIS out-of-the-box (click to enlarge)

Let the paper speak for itself:

The structural architecture, tectonic environment, and temporal evolution of rocks at the surface of the Earth is frequently are frequently correlated with the chemical and physical characteristics of the enclosing lithosphere (Gard et al., 2019, Artemieva, 2019, Tang et al., 2020, Tetley et al., 2020). As a result, it is useful to have spatially accurate maps of geologic provinces and terrane boundaries that encompass a pragmatically uniform set of common geological characteristics for comparative global studies. Such maps also form the foundation for accurate plate reconstructions (Merdith et al., 2021). While there are some regional models of tectonic provinces that are digital (Artemieva, 2006, Laske et al., 2013), there are few accurate global models easily accessible to the geoscience community built on a multiplicity of comparative attributes that approach self-consistency.

In this paper, we present two basic models: (1) a global set of geologic provinces and (2) a model for present-day plate boundaries. Both models are presented in a vector format with accompanying metadata that can be used to improve and simplify the process of global tectonic data analysis and/or modeling across a diverse range of geoscientific phenomena. These models have been produced using a wide variety of geologic and geophysical data and have been partially validated, wherever possible, using igneous and metamorphic age dates allied with additional geophysical datasets. Our hope is these models can be used as a data standard for common classification across the variety of geological databases that currently exist. The global models presented below are freely available in open-source and form a basic digital architecture that can be progressively updated as geological data and interpretations continue to improve.

Right on cue is a global model here on landscape evolution, also from an Australian uni. working with French academics. Again letting the paper speak for itself:

Ours is the first dynamic model – a computer simulation – of the past 100 million years at a high resolution down to ten kilometres. In unprecedented detail, it reveals how Earth’s surface has changed over time, and how that has affected the way sediment moves around and settles.

Broken into frames of a million years, our model is based on a framework that incorporates plate tectonic and climatic forces with surface processes such as earthquakes, weathering, changing rivers and more.

And on cue too, is in Nature - what's with Australian unis? - Why the geosciences are becoming increasingly vital to the interpretation of the human evolutionary record, and its abstract:

Advanced geoscience techniques are essential to contextualize fossils, artefacts and other archaeologically important material accurately and effectively. Their appropriate use will increase confidence in new interpretations of the fossil and archaeological record, providing important information about the life and depositional history of these materials and so should form an integral component of all human evolutionary studies. Many of the most remarkable recent finds that have transformed the field of human evolution are small and scarce, ranging in size from teeth to strands of DNA, recovered from complex sedimentary environments. Nevertheless, if properly analysed, they hold immense potential to rewrite what we know about the evolution of our species and our closest hominin ancestors.

Note: see also Update 3 in this Medium post about quantifying geosciences over 150 yrs. in yellow the same publication:

(click to enlarge)

With yesterday's Medium post on how AI helped elucidate a mass extinction event, it's heartening to see my alma mater - geology and computer mapping - alive and kicking!

original blogpost (click to enlarge)

Community Interest Company blog recap

As I move away from Cambridge to SW FR in my family home, I will also exit socials and rethink my online engagement, where I lost all my pensions! I have also moved my domain to a new provider, which preserves this blog, Mind the Map and My Year in Kuwait above, but loses the superseded web page and my email now on Yahoo. I do, however, stay engaged with my Community Interest Company Cottenham.ai at right.

The previous post mentioned transitioning from cottenham.info to cottenham.ai: the shift from addressing East Anglia rural isolation thru climate change and pandemic, toward more specifically engaging local community health services particularly in social prescribing; it is perhaps time to review the ground covered so far in three areas of Local Community Engagement. and COVID and GIS Maps & Stats:

AI Prompt Engineering Trial 2

 

Community Engagement 1,... 20, 21, 22 & 23

Updates: Medium prof channel reflects this here.

My post here, starting my experiment to convert my CIC (non profit) from Cottenham.info to Cottenham.ai, showed how can we use AI (Wikipedia) for good. My CIC started to address rural isolation in East Anglia in light of climate change and the pandemic (here and here). After a COVID hiatus forced this reassessment, the advent of AI piqued our interest beyond the hype in the press - see my companion Medium series on this topic, following four posts from The future is digital… only it’s not what you think! here - this lead into a curious interaction and my partner finding a new direction.

"So long and thanks for the maps", Part IV

 Over 1½ yrs. ago Part I said that I left socials and geo work... well not quite! I did quit all activism and will soon return to my family home in France left almost 50 yrs. ago.

I left now by entering the 2023 Story Map competition with "a story about conserving Earth’s lands and waters": East Anglia Fenlands: Peatlands Restoration to mitigate Climate Change sums up my work in East Anglia under Cottenham Open - introduced here 4½ years ago as Local community engagement - you can follow my professional portfolio either at top right of my blog home in desktop mode, or my story map direct. 

A tale of two maps, Part 2

A tale of two maps on my personal Medium channel (here) was the start of a series Speaking truth to power, to challenge prevailing myths in current affairs (end-of-series full index here).The undeniable truth of carbon emissions is illustrated by CO2 emissions by country and by CO2 emissions over time as well as Other fuels emissions. 

AI Prompt Engineering Trial 1

Community Engagement 1,... 20, 21 & 22

Update 2: See the next step here in experimenting with AI for good via this CIC

Update 1: See companion Medium article Stop AI scraping your internet data.

The previous post (blog) introduced how our CIC will attempt to find government source data of interest to East Anglia Parishes, in order to assist in creating web pages for all 254 of them. AI is used here to assist the task of seeking information then creating website templates over large numbers of sources to a large number of pages. This is in order to bridge the digital divide of rural citizens and their administrations, which are not plugged into centralised corporate or government ecosystems. We acknowledge the assistance of local Wikimedians (here), who are transforming voluminous IPCC (Wikipedia) reports into text the general public can grasp, retain and take action on.

Cottenham Open CIC rebooted

Community Engagement  1, ... 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 & 21

Update: the next post (here) will show how a blog post on creating maps, is created by generating prompts  using Bing AI in a Udemy course on prompt engineering following STAR (style-task-audience-role).

Re-engaging après-COVID what is in LinkedIn, below & Esri Hub: Part 1 outlined Community Engagement. Part 2 built a story introducing the community. Part 3 tied together community maps and climate mapping. Part 4 introduced a process framework for this community engagement. Part 5 expanded on our aim toward a community engagement.  Part 6 added our own Wikipedia Gazetteer as we build up the local landscape. Part 7 showed a draft Press Release introducing our social enterprise. Part 8 on coastal inundation scenarios adds some parameters in the debate. Part 9 on temperature anomaly scenarios further constrains the debate. Part 10 followed up village engagement process via recent Parish Council update. Part 11 added flood risks to coastal inundation and temperature regime models. Part 12 described Cambridgeshire Parishes affected by sea level rise. And finally here we introduce AI with a local twist.

Sea Level Rise update

The last post before peatlands (recent update here) was the East Anglia flood protection infrastructure here - both used extensive Environment Agency data, publicly available if needing some (at time extensive) work as described therein. Here are further DIY resources to create maps like this fun pirate map of East Anglia under 12 m. water est. around 2150AD (from here updated here):

Community, climate and maps - an update

Update: see a follow-on post to sea level rise in East Anglia here.

 This is a follow on to this post: lets address one of the update items, Fire & Ice, in the light of an early and vicious start  to the Canadian fire season. The question is: notwithstanding this year's events, is there an increase in fires and if so, can they be related to climate change as, say, in California?

Rewater peatlands to mitigate climate change update

Update: see a follow-on post to fire maps in the news here.

In my Story Map Portfolio, step past the first five on climate issues, and the next seven on East Anglia environs affected by climate emergency, to my last and most comprehensive one: Fenlands Challenge - below and fully here - was submitted to a UN Sustainable Development Goals call for story maps; it lays out opportunities and challenges in rewatering peatlands as the most effective way to counter greenhouse gas effects on climate warming.