Workflow of the plate tracking procedure

1. Data preparation Export the plateIDs from any reconstruction model with a time interval of 1 Myr using the GPlates software. In GPlates: Export... -> Add Export... -> Velocities -> GMT(*.xy) Export Description/Velocities will be exported as: domain_point_lon domain_point_lat velocity_azimuth velocity_magnitude plate_id Only the fifth column will be used.

2. Read in plateIDs from files Add a new switch case to function full_read_input_files_for_timesteps() in CitcomS/lib/Full_read_input_from_files.c

3. Initialize the plate tracer flavors Add a new function init_plate_tracer_flavors() to CitcomS/lib/Tracer_setup.c

Example(settings in the inputfile): plate_tracer=on PLATE=919,101,901,926,902 tracer_flavors=7 # 0 for normal mantle, 1 for the CMB chemical layer, 2~6 for the plates above buoyancy_ratio=0.5,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0