5 September 2016

This dataset contains hand-digitised traces of fracture zones, discordant zones, V-shaped structures, unclassified V-anomalies, propagating ridge lineations and extinct ridges. Features were digitised in Google Earth from Sandwell and Smith's (2009) v16.1 vertical gravity gradient data. Apart from the Bay of Biscay ridge and the Sonne ridge in the Cuvier Abyssal Plain, all features were traced along their vertical gravity gradient minima. 

The dataset is also stored in a database hosted by The Global Seafloor Fabric and Magnetic Lineation Data Base Project website: www.soest.hawaii.edu/PT/GSFML/

Please use the following citation for this dataset:

Matthews, K.J., Müller, R.D., Wessel, P. and Whittaker, J.M., 2011. The tectonic fabric of the ocean basins. Journal of Geophysical Research, 116(B12): B12109, DOI: 10.1029/2011JB008413.

The directory contains 6 files:
- DZ_cookiecut.gpmlz - native GPlates Markup Language .gpml compressed format
- ExtinctRidges_cookiecut.gpmlz - native GPlates Markup Language .gpml compressed format
- FZ_cookiecut.gpmlz - native GPlates Markup Language .gpml compressed format
- FZLC_cookiecut.gpmlz - native GPlates Markup Language .gpml compressed format
- UNCV_cookiecut.gpmlz - native GPlates Markup Language .gpml compressed format
- VANOM_cookiecut.gpmlz - native GPlates Markup Language .gpml compressed format

DZ=Discordant Zones
FZ=Fracture Zones
FZLC=Fracture Zones (traced with less certainty due to a weak vertical gravity gradient signal)
PR=Propagating Ridges
UNCV=Unclassified V-Anomalies
VANOM=V-Shaped Structures

The GPML formatted files are compatible with the plate reconstruction software GPlates (www.gplates.org). The GPlates "cookie-cut" dataset can be reconstructed back through time when loaded into GPlates along with a plate rotation file. It was partitioned by the freely available static plate polygons released with GPlates v2.0.


To load these datasets in GPlates do the following:

1.  Open GPlates
2.  Pull down the GPlates File menu and select the operation Open Feature Collection
3.  Click all the files while holding down the shift key to select all files.  All the files should be highlighted.
4.  Click Open 

Alternatively, drag and drop the files onto the globe.
                 
In order to reconstruct these features, you will need to load in the underlying rotation model (.rot file) which can be found in the GeoData or downloaded from http://www.earthbyte.org/gplates-2-4-software-and-data-sets/.   

Play around with the GPlates buttons to make an animation, select features, draw features, etc.  For more information, read the GPlates manual which can be downloaded from www.gplates.org.
 

               
Any questions, please email:            
                                        Dietmar Müller dietmar.muller@sydney.edu.au
                                        Sabin Zahirovic sabin.zahirovic@sydney.edu.au
                                        Maria Seton maria.seton@sydney.edu.au
