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Paper No. 3
Presentation Time: 1:40 PM

TEACHING AND RESEARCH TOOLS FOR DEEP TIME STUDIES: ANCIENT EARTH, GLOBAL GEOLOGY AND THE PALEOMAP PALEOATLAS


SCOTESE, Christopher R., PALEOMAP Project, 134 Dodge Avenue, Evanston, IL 60202, MOORE, Thomas, PaleoTerra, 1212 Quail Run, Bollingbrook, IL 60490 and DREHER, Carl T., Focus Research, 6409 Richmond, Dallas, TX 75214, cscotese@gmail.com

Three new software tools are now available for deep time research studies and teaching: the Ancient Earth app, www.globalgeology.com, and the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for Arc GIS. The simplest and easiest tool to use is the Ancient Earth app developed for the iPad/iPhone. Ancient Earth allows users to view the changing plate tectonic, paleogeographic and paleoclimatic history of the Earth on a series a paleoglobes that can be rescaled and rotated interactively. A special "bookmark" tool allows users to build tutorials that focus on the geological history of specific regions or geologic features (e.g. Reunion hotspot, Appalachian mountains). The website, globalgeology.com, has two major functions. It is a global database consisting of > 500,000 stratigraphic records that describe the lithologic and paleoenvironmental history of the Earth. Visitors to the website can browse the global geology database or enter new stratigraphic information. The website also allows users to plot this geological information on downloadable, Google Earth-style, "paleoglobes". Paleoglobes are reconstructions of the ancient earth that show the past positions of the continents, along with the changing distribution of mountains, shallow seas, and other features through time. The Global Geology Paleoglobe tool lets you select a time interval and download a Google Earth-style paleoglobe (kmz format) that illustrates a variety of features, such as: paleotopography , paleobathymetry, plate tectonic boundaries, paleowinds, paleotemperature, or ancient oceanic circulation. You can add stratigraphic information from the Global Geology database or plot user-defined localities that appear as pins on a interactive Google Earth display. The third research/teaching tool is the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for ArcGIS. The PaleoAtlas consists of 50 paleoreconstructions (shapefiles) illustrating the plate tectonic history of the Earth since the Late Precambrian. Using the program, PointTracker, users can plot reconstructed, user-defined locality data on the paleoreconstructions.
Handouts
  • ScoteseGSAv7a.pdf (8.7 MB)
  • Credit Lines Scotese PALEOMAP.pdf (33.1 kB)
  • PALEOMAP SFS Age of Oceans Map.pdf (2.1 MB)
  • RULES OF THUMB (081312).pdf (71.8 kB)

    • Session No. 89

    T234. Paleogeographic Synthesis: from Cyberinfrastructure to Application
    Sunday, 27 October 2013: 1:00 PM-5:00 PM
    Room 605 (Colorado Convention Center)
    Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 45, No. 7, p.233
    © Copyright 2013 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.
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