Print this pageAAPG ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION
Making the Next Giant Leap in Geosciences
April 10-13, 2011, Houston, Texas, USA
The PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas & PaleoClimate Atlas (ArcGIS)
(1) PALEOMAP Project, Arlington, TX.
(2) PaleoTerra, Bollingbrook, IL.
During the last six years the PALEOMAP Project has constructed a digital atlas of plate tectonic and paleogeographic reconstructions. This “PaleoAtlas” runs in ArcGIS (ESRI). The PaleoAtlas is made up of 53 paleoreconstructions in six volumes: Cenozoic, Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic, Late Paleozoic, Early Paleozoic, and Late Precambrian (Neoproterozoic). For each reconstructed time interval there are more than 25 feature layers that describe important tectonic, paleogeographic and paleoclimatic information such as: modern geographic features, plate tectonic features (active plate boundaries, age of the ocean floor, and ancient plates), paleorivers and drainage basins, a 3D digital paleogeographic model (PaleoDEM), as well as estimates of highstand and lowstand shorelines, and geological information (outcrop geology, regional lithofacies, coral reefs, and ophiolites.
Work has recently begun on a companion PaleoClimate Atlas. Climate simulations were run using the Fast Ocean and Atmosphere Model (FOAM) which illustrate the Earth’s evolving climate during the past 750 million years. There will be more than 50 paleoclimatic reconstructions in the completed Paleoclimate Atlas. As of June 2010, 18 simulations have been run. For each paleoclimatic reconstruction, there are ~20 feature layers describing important aspects of the Earth’s ancient climate: atmospheric circulation (seasonal pressure systems and winds), seasonal temperatures, rainfall, runoff, paleorivers and drainage basins, oceanography (seasonal surface currents, salinity, areas of upwelling, areas of anoxia), and the predicted location of deltas and clastics influx to the oceans). The plate tectonic, paleogeographic and climatic information collected in the PaleoAtlas and Paleoclimate Atlas will be the principle input for the “Earth System History Archive” (ESHA). The Earth System Archive is a compilation of important paleo-environmental variables (e.g., elevation, bathymetry, temperature, rainfall, ocean currents, salinity, upwelling, etc). The goal of the ESHA is to provide earth scientists and earth historians with a concise, accurate, and informative digital description of the evolution of the Earth System during the past one billion years. Using GIS technology it is now possible to store, retrieve, and visualize this wealth of information about the Earth's distant past.