PMTec: A new MATLAB toolbox for absolute plate motion reconstructions from paleomagnetism

Abstract

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Established on Euler rotations (rotation poles and angles), quantitative representation of plate motion history has been one of the focus fields in geoscience since the beginning of the age of plate tectonics. Here we present a new MATLAB based toolbox PMTec primarily developed for (1) construction of apparent polar wander paths (APWP, in the form of running means and spherical splines) from paleomagnetic data and (2) absolute plate motion calculations through APWP geometric parameterizations. We choose to build the graphical users interface of PMTec using MATLAB considering its powerful mapping toolbox for geospatial data visualization and its rising popularity in the geoscience community. Theoretical background, functioning modules, and data and file management in PMTec are formulated in this paper. The computational and graphical capabilities of PMTec are demonstrated using published data to provide an overview about its operation procedure and potential applications. The PMTec package and associated tutorials are available for download from the website: <a href="http://www.ualberta.ca/~vadim/software.htm">http://www.ualberta.ca/~vadim/software.htm</a>. PMTec is a freeware for plate tectonic research and education purposes and allowed to be redistributed among users.