pygplates.ReconstructedFlowline

class pygplates.ReconstructedFlowline

Bases: ReconstructionGeometry

The reconstructed history of plate motion away from a spreading ridge in the form of a path of points over geological time.

ReconstructModel, ReconstructSnapshot or reconstruct() can be used to generate ReconstructedFlowline instances.

Note

Although a single flowline feature has only a single seed geometry that seed geometry can be either a PointOnSphere or a MultiPointOnSphere.
And since there is one reconstructed flowline per seed point there can be, in the case of a MultiPointOnSphere, multiple reconstructed flowlines per flowline feature.
__init__()

Raises an exception This class cannot be instantiated from Python

Methods

__init__

Raises an exception This class cannot be instantiated from Python

get_feature()

Returns the feature associated with this ReconstructedFlowline.

get_left_flowline()

Returns the flowline spread along the left plate from the reconstructed seed point.

get_present_day_seed_point()

Returns the present day seed point.

get_property()

Returns the feature property containing the seed point associated with this ReconstructedFlowline.

get_reconstructed_seed_point()

Returns the reconstructed seed point.

get_reconstructed_seed_point_velocity(...)

Returns the velocity of the reconstructed seed point.

get_reconstruction_time()

Returns the reconstruction time that this instance was created at.

get_right_flowline()

Returns the flowline spread along the right plate from the reconstructed seed point.

get_feature()

Returns the feature associated with this ReconstructedFlowline.

Return type:

Feature

Note

Multiple reconstructed flowlines can be associated with the same flowline feature if its seed geometry is a MultiPointOnSphere.

get_left_flowline()

Returns the flowline spread along the left plate from the reconstructed seed point.

Return type:

PolylineOnSphere

The returned points are on the left plate associated with get_feature().get_left_plate()

The first point in the returned PolylineOnSphere is the reconstructed seed point and subsequent points are progressively further in the geological past.

Note

This is just one of the left flowlines associated with this feature's seed geometry if that seed geometry is a MultiPointOnSphere.

Iterate over the left flowline points:

for left_point in reconstructed_flowline.get_left_flowline():
  ...
get_present_day_seed_point()

Returns the present day seed point.

Return type:

PointOnSphere

Note

This is just one of the seed points in this feature's seed geometry if that seed geometry is a MultiPointOnSphere. The remaining seed points are associated with other ReconstructedFlowline instances.

get_property()

Returns the feature property containing the seed point associated with this ReconstructedFlowline.

Return type:

Property

This is the Property that the present day seed point and the reconstructed seed point are obtained from.

get_reconstructed_seed_point()

Returns the reconstructed seed point.

Return type:

PointOnSphere

Note

This is just one of the seed points in this feature's seed geometry if that seed geometry is a MultiPointOnSphere. The remaining seed points are associated with other ReconstructedFlowline instances.

get_reconstructed_seed_point_velocity([velocity_delta_time=1.0][, velocity_delta_time_type=pygplates.VelocityDeltaTimeType.t_plus_delta_t_to_t][, velocity_units=pygplates.VelocityUnits.kms_per_my][, earth_radius_in_kms=pygplates.Earth.mean_radius_in_kms])

Returns the velocity of the reconstructed seed point.

Parameters:
  • velocity_delta_time (float) – The time delta used to calculate velocity (defaults to 1 Myr).

  • velocity_delta_time_type (VelocityDeltaTimeType.t_plus_delta_t_to_t, VelocityDeltaTimeType.t_to_t_minus_delta_t or VelocityDeltaTimeType.t_plus_minus_half_delta_t) – How the two velocity times are calculated relative to the reconstruction time. This includes [t+dt, t], [t, t-dt] and [t+dt/2, t-dt/2]. Defaults to [t+dt, t].

  • velocity_units (VelocityUnits.kms_per_my or VelocityUnits.cms_per_yr) – whether to return velocity as kilometres per million years or centimetres per year (defaults to kilometres per million years)

  • earth_radius_in_kms (float) – the radius of the Earth in kilometres (defaults to pygplates.Earth.mean_radius_in_kms)

Return type:

Vector3D

Added in version 0.50.

get_right_flowline()

Returns the flowline spread along the right plate from the reconstructed seed point.

Return type:

PolylineOnSphere

The returned points are on the right plate associated with get_feature().get_right_plate()

The first point in the returned PolylineOnSphere is the reconstructed seed point and subsequent points are progressively further in the geological past.

Note

This is just one of the right flowlines associated with this feature's seed geometry if that seed geometry is a MultiPointOnSphere.

Iterate over the right flowline points:

for right_point in reconstructed_flowline.get_right_flowline():
  ...