Plate circuits to anchored plate

This example finds and prints the plate circuit paths from all plates in the plate rotation hierarchy to the anchored plate (for a particular reconstruction time).

The output of this example is similar to the output of the Total Reconstruction Poles dialog (under the Plate Circuits to Anchored Plate tab) in GPlates.

Sample code 

import pygplates


# Load one or more rotation files into a rotation model.
rotation_model = pygplates.RotationModel('rotations.rot')

# The reconstruction time (Ma) of the plate hierarchy we're interested in.
reconstruction_time = 60

# Get the reconstruction tree.
reconstruction_tree = rotation_model.get_reconstruction_tree(reconstruction_time)

# Get all the edges of the reconstruction tree.
all_edges = reconstruction_tree.get_edges()

# Iterate over all the edges.
for edge in all_edges:

    print 'Plate ID: %d:' % edge.get_moving_plate_id()

    # Traverse the plate circuit from the current plate to the anchored plate.
    edge_in_circuit = edge
    while edge_in_circuit:

        relative_total_rotation = edge_in_circuit.get_relative_total_rotation()
        relative_pole_latitude, relative_pole_longitude, relative_angle_degrees = (
            relative_total_rotation.get_lat_lon_euler_pole_and_angle_degrees())

        equivalent_total_rotation = edge_in_circuit.get_equivalent_total_rotation()
        equivalent_pole_latitude, equivalent_pole_longitude, equivalent_angle_degrees = (
            equivalent_total_rotation.get_lat_lon_euler_pole_and_angle_degrees())

        print '  Plate ID: %d, Fixed Plate ID: %d:' % (
            edge_in_circuit.get_moving_plate_id(), edge_in_circuit.get_fixed_plate_id())

        print '    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: %f, lon: %f:, angle:%f' % (
            relative_pole_latitude, relative_pole_longitude, relative_angle_degrees)

        print '    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: %f, lon: %f:, angle:%f' % (
            equivalent_pole_latitude, equivalent_pole_longitude, equivalent_angle_degrees)

        # Blank line.
        print

        # Follow the plate circuit one step closer to the anchored plate.
        edge_in_circuit = edge_in_circuit.get_parent_edge()

Details 

The rotations are loaded from a rotation file into a pygplates.RotationModel.

rotation_model = pygplates.RotationModel('rotations.rot')

The plate rotation hierarchy is encapsulated in a reconstruction tree which we obtain from the rotation model using pygplates.RotationModel.get_reconstruction_tree() and the desired reconstruction time.

The hierarchy can change from one reconstruction time to the next depending on how the rotations are arranged in the rotation file(s).

reconstruction_tree = rotation_model.get_reconstruction_tree(reconstruction_time)

An edge in a plate rotation hierarchy
represents the rotation of a moving plate relative to a fixed plate. These edges are arranged in
a tree-like structure (hierarchy) rooted at the anchor plate (usually plate ID zero).
We get all the edges in the reconstruction tree because all the plates in the reconstruction tree
(except the anchor plate) are in fact the moving plates of all the edges.
All the edges are obtained using pygplates.ReconstructionTree.get_edges().

all_edges = reconstruction_tree.get_edges()
for edge in all_edges:
    ...

Print the (moving) plate ID corresponding to the current edge before we print its plate circuit to the anchored plate.

print 'Plate ID: %d:' % edge.get_moving_plate_id()

Iterate over the edges in the plate circuit path between the current edge and the anchored plate.

edge_in_circuit = edge
while edge_in_circuit:
    ...

Get the relative and
equivalent total rotations of the current edge
in the plate circuit path using pygplates.ReconstructionTreeEdge.get_relative_total_rotation()
and pygplates.ReconstructionTreeEdge.get_equivalent_total_rotation().
The relative rotation is the total rotation of the edge’s moving plate relative to its fixed plate.
The equivalent total rotation is the total rotation of the edge’s moving plate relative to anchored plate.
A total rotation means a rotation at the reconstruction time relative to present day (0Ma).
The pole and angle of each rotation is obtained using
pygplates.FiniteRotation.get_lat_lon_euler_pole_and_angle_degrees().

relative_total_rotation = edge_in_circuit.get_relative_total_rotation()
relative_pole_latitude, relative_pole_longitude, relative_angle_degrees = (
    relative_total_rotation.get_lat_lon_euler_pole_and_angle_degrees())

equivalent_total_rotation = edge_in_circuit.get_equivalent_total_rotation()
equivalent_pole_latitude, equivalent_pole_longitude, equivalent_angle_degrees = (
    equivalent_total_rotation.get_lat_lon_euler_pole_and_angle_degrees())

Print the relative and equivalent total rotations of the moving plate of the current edge in the plate circuit path.

print '  Plate ID: %d, Fixed Plate ID: %d:' % (
    edge_in_circuit.get_moving_plate_id(), edge_in_circuit.get_fixed_plate_id())

print '    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: %f, lon: %f:, angle:%f' % (
    relative_pole_latitude, relative_pole_longitude, relative_angle_degrees)

print '    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: %f, lon: %f:, angle:%f' % (
    equivalent_pole_latitude, equivalent_pole_longitude, equivalent_angle_degrees)

print

Follow the plate circuit one step closer to the anchored plate using pygplates.ReconstructionTreeEdge.get_parent_edge().

The while loop stops when an edge has no parent edge. This means we’ve reached an anchored plate edge (an edge whose fixed plate is the anchored plate).

edge_in_circuit = edge_in_circuit.get_parent_edge()

Output 

Plate ID: 1:
  Plate ID: 1, Fixed Plate ID: 0:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000

Plate ID: 2:
  Plate ID: 2, Fixed Plate ID: 901:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 57.429209, lon: -72.529235:, angle:-38.063290
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: -46.815419, lon: -78.838045:, angle:-9.303734

  Plate ID: 901, Fixed Plate ID: 804:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 71.312099, lon: -54.488341:, angle:44.370707
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: 68.669125, lon: -58.413957:, angle:41.330547

  Plate ID: 804, Fixed Plate ID: 802:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: -18.150000, lon: -17.850000:, angle:2.129032
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: -74.349502, lon: -68.326678:, angle:3.731361

  Plate ID: 802, Fixed Plate ID: 701:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 10.617614, lon: -47.371326:, angle:10.778033
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: 62.066424, lon: 9.485588:, angle:-3.331182

  Plate ID: 701, Fixed Plate ID: 1:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 23.730000, lon: -42.140000:, angle:-12.530000
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: 23.730000, lon: -42.140000:, angle:-12.530000

  Plate ID: 1, Fixed Plate ID: 0:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000

Plate ID: 3:
  Plate ID: 3, Fixed Plate ID: 0:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000

Plate ID: 101:
  Plate ID: 101, Fixed Plate ID: 714:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 81.307187, lon: 3.720675:, angle:19.151434
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: -53.663182, lon: -64.839189:, angle:-16.897027

  Plate ID: 714, Fixed Plate ID: 701:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: 23.730000, lon: -42.140000:, angle:-12.530000

  Plate ID: 701, Fixed Plate ID: 1:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 23.730000, lon: -42.140000:, angle:-12.530000
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: 23.730000, lon: -42.140000:, angle:-12.530000

  Plate ID: 1, Fixed Plate ID: 0:
    Rotation rel. fixed (parent) plate: lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000
    Equivalent rotation rel. anchored plate: lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000

...

…where lat: 90.000000, lon: 0.000000:, angle:0.000000 is the default representation that pygplates.FiniteRotation.get_lat_lon_euler_pole_and_angle_degrees() returns for an identity rotation (zero rotation angle).

Plate circuits to anchored plate

Sample code

Details

Output

Sample code 

Details 

Output 