EarthByte

Plate Boundaries

EarthByte provides two different types of global plate polygon files:

1. EarthByte Plate Model 2009 Present Day Plate Polygon Files
2. Gurnis et. al. Dynamic Closed Plate Polygon Data Files

We have also provided links to other present day plate boundary datasets.

EarthByte Plate Model 2009 Present Day Plate Polygon Files
These polygons represent the boundaries of present day plates as well as presently preserved palaeo-plate boundaries. The polygons are broken up by age over the ocean floor based on the Müller et. al. (2008) present day agegrid. Plates that have been created or destroyed in the past are not incorporated into this model. The plate polygons are based on the EarthByte 2009 plate model (Click Here). This dataset is compatible with the EarthByte present day coastline file. The file can be loaded into GPlates, other GIS software (such as ArcGIS, PaleoGIS, Quantum GIS, GRASS GIS, SAGA GIS, etc) as well as technical computing programs such as Matlab. For more info, Click Here

Download EarthByte Plate Model 2009 Plate Polygon File Click Here (License)

Gurnis et. al. Dynamic Closed Plate Polygon Data Files
These polygons represent continuously closing plates from 140 Ma to the present (see Gurnis et. al. Submitted for more details). Unlike the present day polygons listed above, these polygons dynamically change shape as the plate boundaries evolve. Plates that once existed in the past are incorporated. The plate polygons are based on the EarthByte 2007 global plate model. This dataset is best used for any global plate kinematic analysis, as boundary layer input into mantle convection software such as CitcomS and can be used to assign plate identifications to your dataset. The limitation of this dataset is its resolution, with only 40 plates existing during the last 140 Myrs. The plate polygons are available as GPML (GPlates Markup Language) files, which can be manipulated and translated to other formats with GPlates. The data are also available as static polygons in 1 Myr intervals. For more info, Click Here

Download Global Plate Polygons (Gurnis et. al. Submitted) (0-140 Ma) and corresponding rotation file Click Here

Peter Bird Plate Boundary Dataset

Mollweide projection of the Peter Bird (2003) plate boundary dataset

Nuvel Plate Boundary Dataset

Mollweide projection of the Nuvel plate boundary dataset

Links
Click here to download the Peter Bird 2003 plate boundary dataset

Click here to download the Nuvel plate boundary dataset