The Application of Optimisation Methods to Constrain Absolute Plate Motions

Abstract:

Plate tectonic reconstructions are an excellent tool for understanding the configuration and behaviour of continents through time on both global and regional scales, and are relatively well understood back to ~200 Ma. However, many of these models represent only relative motions between continents, providing little information of absolute tectonic motions and their relationship with the deep Earth. Significant issues exist in solving this problem, including how to combine constraints from multiple, diverse data into a unified model of absolute plate motions; and how to address uncertainties both in the available data, and in the assumptions involved in this process (e.g. hotspot motion, true polar wander). In deep time (pre-Pangea breakup), plate reconstructions rely more heavily on paleomagnetism, but these data often imply plate velocities much larger than those observed since the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea where plate velocities are constrained by the seafloor spreading record. Here we present two complementary techniques to address these issues, applying parallelized numerical methods to quantitatively investigate absolute plate motions through time. Firstly, we develop a data-fit optimized global absolute reference frame constrained by kinematic reconstruction data, hotspot-trail observations, and trench migration statistics. Secondly we calculate optimized paleomagnetic data-derived apparent polar wander paths (APWPs) for both the Phanerozoic and Precambrian. Paths are generated from raw pole data with optimal spatial and temporal pole configurations calculated using all known uncertainties and quality criteria to produce velocity-optimized absolute motion paths through deep time.