DRIFTMAP—a continental drift program in Pascal
Computers & Geosciences
Numerical recipes in FORTRAN (2nd ed.): the art of scientific computing
Numerical recipes in FORTRAN (2nd ed.): the art of scientific computing
Computer-aided paleogeographic reconstructions
Computers & Geosciences
Polygon intersections in spherical topology: application to plate tectonics
Computers & Geosciences - Special issue on system integration within the geosciences
Euler rotations in plate-tectonic reconstructions
Computers & Geosciences
Magan: A new approach to the analysis and interpretation of marine magnetic anomalies
Computers & Geosciences
PRSS to aid palaeocontinental reconstructions simulation research
Computers & Geosciences
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PLACA was developed as a general purpose computer program for the earth scientist that has to manipulate the rigid plate tectonics theory, from the representation of plate reconstructions to the determination of best-fit poles using magnetic anomalies, fracture zones or volcanic alignments. In the ''forward'' mode PLACA has the features of most available demonstration software plus the ability of simulating mid-oceanic ridges (MOR) as dynamic segments that move with a fraction of the relative motion between two plates. The movement can be illustrated by the generation of flow lines, plate trajectories and/or pseudo-magnetic anomalies on the ocean floor. The evolution of simple triple junctions of the R-R-R type can also be studied. In the ''modifying'' mode, best-fit poles can be computed either visually or by a systematic search routine. Five methods are available to evaluate the residuals between predicted and observed reconstructed points. Once the best-fit pole is obtained, several statistical tests can be done to evaluate the confidence on the fit. Surprisingly, the use of high-resolution geophysical data that are now available in the oceanic domain doesn't always imply that the reconstruction poles are better constrained, as shown by an application example. Other examples presented document a discussion on the precision of plate reconstructions and suggest a few words of caution for the general user of PLACA.