GETECH

The GETECH Demo Plate Model is a rigid plate model i.e. plate boundaries are defined by presently observable structures and remain unchanged throughout geological time. Consequently, the shape and area of individual plates remain the same, despite subsequent deformation that is recorded along the plate boundaries by overlap or underlap of adjacent plate polygons. An overlap reflects extensional deformation, i.e. plates are presently larger than they were originally because they have been stretched. An underlap (gap) represents compression, i.e. present day plates are smaller than they were before, because they have been shortened. Even if deformation is distributed across a plate in discrete strain zones, its cumulative effect is visible along the plate boundary. Gaps may also represent the areas originally occupied by the oceanic crust that has been subsequently subducted.

The GETECH Baseline Plate Model v.1 (2009), from which the demo is derived, focuses on establishing the positions of the top 16 plates in the plate hierarchy, by using GETECHs expertise in tectonics and potential fields geophysics, to establish better definitions of crustal boundaries, and thereby to determine better pre-rift geometries. The regional models for all other plates are derived from our existing regional studies, the global plate model of Professor D. Rowley (pers. com.,1995; referred to as the Chicago Plate Model by us in our work, which was the original starting point for our research in this field and an excellent basis for our subsequent work), and public domain models (see references below), This baseline model forms the starting point for our more detailed regional plate modeling work, which comprises a global series of “Structure and Tectonics Studies” in which we look in more detail at the structural and tectonic framework of each geographic region, its kinematic history, and the significance of this for exploration. Each module includes a series of modeling experiments, with a view to providing users with a rigorous assessment of differing plate modeling hypotheses as well as our own preferred solution.

As with all plate modeling research, this work is iterative and on-going. Plate modeling is not simple and a full solution requires input from a variety of scientific disciplines and a rigorous testing of hypotheses. We hope that users will find our demo model of interest, but we do stress that this is not the full working model. We therefore encourage interested users to contact us to find out more about how GETECH can help in their work. (info@getech.com).