PlatyPlusPlus - Reconstruction software with a difference

Abstract

Existing packages that allow plate scale reconstruction deal with a host of individual objects, abstracted from geological and geophysical data. The typical approach is to show existing continental outlines and to represent their movement through a few hundred million years of history, providing a reconstruction based on rigid plate motion. This work presents the release of a new reconstruction package, PlatyPlusPlus, designed to provide a new way to carry out tectonic reconstruction. Based on the first version of PlatyPlus, PlatyPlusPlus has been designed with a client-server architecture, allowing reconstructions to present a degree of complexity not reached before. In this paper we will present (1) the architectural complexity of the software; (2) some of the new features; (3) analyse their merits in comparison with classical reconstruction (4) the first results of this new technology.