This model is based on the Scotese and Wrigth (2018) paleoDEMs available at EarthByte page. The digitalization uses the following convention, to make more or less compatible with the EarthByte model:
| Elevation | Key | Environment |
|---|---|---|
| 4000m or more | 6 | collision mountains |
| 1500 to 2000m | 4 | highlands |
| 0 to 1500m | 3 | lowlands |
| -200 to 0m | 2 | continental shelf |
| -2000 to -200m | 1 | oceanic plateaus |
Note that this paleolandscape does not include glacial ice sheets.
The model is then unrotated to present coordinates using the PaleoMap plate motion model of Scotese (2016), so it can be used with any rotation model.
The landscape model is defined from 540 million years ago to today, in time stages of 5 million years.
The model is available in three resolutions:
e360 (360 pixels in the equatorial ring),
e180,
and e120.
For reference,
Pixel IDs are stored as pixel-ids-xxx.tab,
in which xxx is used to indicate the resolution.
The model is stored in the file paleomap-landscape-unrot-xxx-5.tab,
in which xxx is the pixel resolution,
and 5 is the time resolution (in million years).
A color key,
which is compatible with color-blindness,
and can be used with plates timepix map command
is stored in the file paleomap-landscape-key.tab.
To rotate the paleolandscape model,
use the command plates from the earth package:
plates timepix --model <your-model> --output <output-landscape-model> paleomap-landscape-unrot-xxx-5.tabNote that in such cases, only pixels associated with a current plate will be rotated, then, some past features that appears in the original PaleoMap landscape model will be lost.
This model is the direct process of the Scotese and Wright (2018) model. As such, the original publication should be cited when the model is used. Relevant papers are given in this file and provided as bibTeX.
It is not required to cite this repository, but if you do not include the model in the supplementary material of your publication, it might be a good idea to link this repository and help others to replicate or re-use your analysis.
Data from PaleoMap project (Scotese and Wrigth, 2018) is distributed under the CC-BY 4.0 license, hat can be found in the LICENSE file.
As the models are a product of a pixelation of vectorial models, it is possible that some pixels will not be defined particularly in the boundaries of plates. Depending on the usage given to the models, this problems will be only annoying (for example, a deep ocean pixel in the middle of a continent), or it can be critical (if the feature of interest is near this absent pixels). So be careful when using the models.
Scotese, C.S. (2016) PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for GPlates. URL: https://www.earthbyte.org/paleomap-paleoatlas-for-gplates/.
Scotese, C.S., Wrigth, N. (2018) PALEOMAP Paleodigital elevation models (PaleoDEMs) for Phanerozoic. URL: https://www.earthbyte.org/paleodem-resource-scotese-and-wright-2018/.