Is there a complete digitized set of Golonka maps?

Hello all,

The 2006 global paleogeographic atlas of Jan Golonka encompasses the entire Phanerozoic, from the Early Cambrian onwards. However, the digitized version of the atlas that comes with the latest GPlates version (Cao et al. 2017) only includes maps for the Devonian onwards, because at the time that project was undertaken, a detailed plate model was only available for 410-0 Ma. So I have to ask: Is there a full, digitized version (shapefile or geotiff) of the Golonka 2006 atlas that includes all the maps? (In their original form, without corrections to coastlines or migration to a new plate model.)

Better yet: There are more detailed Golonka atlases (Early Paleozoic, Late Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic) that, in addition to the extent of land, shelf, mountains, ice, and deep oceans, also show different kinds of depositional environments and distinguish tectonically active mountains from those that are not. Cao et al. 2017 does not include these details, but I am interested in them because they would be useful for reconstructing paleo-topography and drainage patterns. If anyone has already done the work of digitizing these more detailed maps, I’ll download those also.

I have already done some deep Google searching for digitized versions of the full, detailed atlases (and of the pre-Devonian 2006 Golonka maps) and came up empty. If no one on this forum is in possession of what I’m looking for and no one else can find it on the web, then that’s OK, because I can reproject and digitize these maps in GPlates myself. But it sure would save me a lot of time and energy if someone here has already done so!

Best regards,
Samuel

Hi Samuel,

I dug through my very old files and found this bundle of files. These are the raw reprojected shapefiles from the Golonka Mollweide projections.

We never went down the path of using the regional figures with greater detail, as they were more challenging to georeference - there were very few geographic control points. That is probably easier these days with new GIS semi-automated tools.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Sabin