Exhuming my thesis ... an update

By the way, "exhuming my thesis" was an inside joke: the geology and tectonics both in my area in N Ontario and the inspiration paper in Alaska talked about exhumed terranes; continental blocks that were buried and metamorphosed, displaced and then exhumed back to the surface to their current location.

In my exploration of climate change and precursors in the Proterozoic - see classnotes here - I ran across this other paper here: it linked in addition to a cracking map on another platform, QGIS (here) I also used in the past. It included the latest in terrane interpretation, and it also posted magnetic data (source at bottom). It's a lot less distinct but the main features are discernible:

interpretation (click to enlarge)

raw data (click to enlarge)

I brought this up however not for the poorer data, but for the terranes identified by those authors in this 2022 work, ten years after the Alaska paper and twenty after mine:

source at bottom (click to enlarge)

Their Mazatsal and Yavapai Terranes correspond to mine purported to be south of the Manitoulin Island Discontinuity bisecting the middle of the diagram. Again it's a sketch diagram that points to a collection of terranes, a decade after the USGS's and two after mine in my previous post. 

Source

This document describes the datasets provided in the global tectonics collection.  The dataset can be used for research and education.  The dataset comes with no warranty or declaration of accuracy.  Whenever possible please cite the original data sources.

The global tectonics dataset was assembled as part of a revised plate map and a new global tectonic model and contains several vector and raster datasets that were used in the creation and interpretation of the models.  The entire collection is will use approximately 4.3 GB of disk space.

The datasets are provided individually for constructing use in your own software and as a QGIS  project file.  The attribute data in the plate and province shapefiles can be used to produce several different views of the data including major plates, deformation zones, crust type, terrane type, and the last orogenic event.   To see the other versions, in QGIS right-click on the layer in the layer menu, select style and the pick the named style you wish to display.

The directories and their contents are briefly described below.

QGIS/

    global_tectonics.qgz - QGIS project file, created in version 3.18.2, with each dataset loaded and stylized

    styles/ - contains the QGIS style files for coloring, line/point styles, etc., associated with each dataset in global_tectonics.qgz

plates&provinces/

    boundaries.shp - plate boundaries and their types in shapefile format

    oc_boundaries.shp - oceanic--continental crustal boundary in shapefile format

    plates.shp - active tectonic plates and their boundary zones

    cratons.shp - Regions with geochemical samples or that are known to have Archean (>2500 Ma) basement.  The polygons have largely been extracted from global_gprv.shp aside from a few in the western US from Lund et al. (2015, https://doi.org/10.3133%2Fds898).  An additional column in the attribute table has been added to identify post-Archean reworking

    global_gprv.shp - geological provinces, their type and last orogenic event

    These models are described in detail in Hasterok, D., Halpin, J., Collins, A., Hand, M., Kreemer, C., Gard, M., Glorie, S., (2022) New maps for global geologic provinces and tectonic plates. Earth Science Reviews, Earth Science Reviews.

    version history:

submitted to Earth Science Reviews 18th May 2022

revised 23rd May 2022

accepted 26th May 2022

    Also available at Hasterok, D., Halpin, J., Hand, M., Collins, A., Kreemer, C., Gard, M.G., Glorie, S., (revised) New maps of global geologic provinces and tectonic plates, Earth Science Reviews. Preprint available (EarthArXiv) https://doi.org/10.31223/X5TD1C

polygon_data/

    GSHHS_I_L1.shp - A slightly modified version of the intermediate scale Global Self-consistent Hierarchical High-resolution shoreline (GSHHS) as a polygon rather than linear format.  A polygon format allows for filling continents as well as displaying their outlines.  You can find the original files at (https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pwessel/gshhg/)

    Johansson_etal_2018_EarthByte_LIPs_v2.shp - A model of Large Igneous Provinces released by the Earthbyte Group.  Johansson, L., Zahirovic, S., Müller, R. D., 2018. The Interplay Between the Eruption and Weathering of Large Igneous Provinces and the Deep-Time Carbon Cycle. Geophysical Research Letters, Geophysical Research Letters 45, 5380–5389. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017gl076691

    ne_10m_coastline.shp - Another coastline model from Natural Earth (https://www.naturalearthdata.com)

    ne_10m_wgs84_bounding_box.shp - A bounding box that is useful when producing maps in QGIS that are not geographic or mercator projections.  The shapefile is from Natural Earth (https://www.naturalearthdata.com)

point_data/

    global_eq_M3-5.5_1990-2020.shp - NEIC earthquake catalog, magnitude 3--5.5 from 1990 to 2020.

    global_eq_M5.5+_1970-2020.shp - NEIC earthquake catalog, magnitude 5.5+ from 1990 to 2020.  ANSS, 2020. Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/search/, Downloaded 26 Dec. 2020.

    GVP_Holocene+Pleistocene.shp - Smithsonian Global Volcanic Program, lists of known volcanic centers from the Holocene and Pleistocene.  Global Volcanic Program, 2013. Volcanoes of the World, v. 4.7.3. Venzke, E (ed.). Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW4-2013

    igneous_dates.shp - dates for igneous rocks.  Data come from a global geochemical database and a global zircon database.    Gard, M., Hasterok, D., Halpin, J., 2019. Global whole-rock geochemical database compilation. Earth System Science Data, Earth System Science Data 11, 1553–1566. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1553-2019.  Puetz, S. J., 2018. A relational database of global U–Pb ages. Geoscience Frontiers, Geoscience Frontiers 9, 877–891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2017.12.004.

    metamorphic_dates.shp - dates of metamorphism, data originate from a global database of P-T conditions with updates made in this study, references in the paper accompanying the study.  Also includes metamorphic dates from DateView.  Brown, M., Johnson, T., 2018. Secular change in metamorphism and the onset of global plate tectonics. American Mineralogist, American Mineralogist 103, 181–196. https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2018-6166.  Eglington, B. M., 2004. DateView: a windows geochronology database. Computers & Geosciences, Computers & Geosciences 30, 847–858. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2004.06.002

GPS/

    GPS_*.shp - global GPS vectors, three reference frames are provided: APM, absolute plate motion; NNR, no-net rotation; and ITRF08, International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2008.  Compilation by Kreemer, C., Blewitt, G., Klein, E. C., 2014. A geodetic plate motion and Global Strain Rate Model. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 15, 3849–3889. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014gc005407

raster_data/

    ETOPO1.tif - Global topography at 1 arc-min resolution. Amante, C., Eakins, B. W., 2009. ETOPO1 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis (Technical Memorandum NESDIS No. NGDC–24). NOAA. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5C8276M

    WDMAM_V2.tif - World digital magnetic anomaly map.   Lesur, V., Hamoudi, M., Choi, Y., Dyment, J., Thébault, E., 2016. Building the second version of the World Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map (WDMAM). Earth, Planets and Space, Earth, Planets and Space 68. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-016-0404-6

    GGM+2013.tif - global gravity model.    Balmino, G., Vales, N., Bonvalot, S., Briais, A., 2011. Spherical harmonic modelling to ultra-high degree of Bouguer and isostatic anomalies. Journal of Geodesy, Journal of Geodesy 86, 499–520. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-011-0533-4

    3D218-08Sv_70km.tif - S-wave tomography anomaly model.  Only the 70 km depth slice is included.   Debayle, E., Dubuffet, F., Durand, S., 2019. Data Services Products: 3D2018_08Sv, a global Sv wave upper mantle model updated until August 2018. Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology. https://doi.org/10.17611/DP/EMC3D201808S

    Seafloor_age.2020.1.GTS2012.1min.tif - seafloor age model.   Seton, M., Müller, R. D., Zahirovic, S., Williams, S., Wright, N. M., Cannon, J., Whittaker, J. M., Matthews, K. J., McGirr, R., 2020. A Global Data Set of Present-Day Oceanic Crustal Age and Seafloor Spreading Parameters. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 21. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gc009214

Also included in the QGIS project is the Google composite satellite image.  Note that this image may not display properly when viewing the entire world.

For additional information, comments, suggestions, or to report errors: Contact

Derrick Hasterok

Dept. Earth Sciences

University of Adelaide

Adelaide SA 5005

derrick.hasterok@adelaide.edu.au

New Years Eve 2000 racing by Greenwich Meridian

Update: note a dash of AI mixed in at the bottom for fun

Our TV rung in 2025 live in Paris in my time zone, and six hours later in NYC dropping its ball in Times Square; nothing matches however this cracking event in London to usher in the New Millennium: barges were aligned in the middle of the River Thames, spaced exactly 1 s. apart as the earth rotated past midnight GMT in London, from the Meridian at the Millennium Dome to the east, to Vauxhall Bridge to the west.