COMPUTER-AIDED PALEOGEOGRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTIONS

This paper describes the operation of a computer program written in C+ and designed to produce and view paleogeographic reconstructions. Th e program operates on a vector representation of the geographic and te ctonic elements composing the past configuration of the continents. A new approach to map editing and visualization is presented. This appro ach is based on (1) automatic linking of polygon vertices in the editi ng module, (2) a solution to the problem of polygon truncation along t he perimeter of a projected map, (3) a method to apply finite rotation s to the polygons and the polylines that compose a paleogeographic fra mework in the vector model and (4) automatic generation of smoothed Ap parent Polar Wander Paths by spherical splines. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.