# (Post-restored-by-MC) -- How to colour resolved line topology by boundary type (transform vs subduction) in GPlates 2.5?

**URL:** https://discourse.gplates.org/t/post-restored-by-mc-how-to-colour-resolved-line-topology-by-boundary-type-transform-vs-subduction-in-gplates-2-5/3227
**Category:** Q&A
**Created:** [18 March 2026 04:15 UTC](https://discourse.gplates.org/t/post-restored-by-mc-how-to-colour-resolved-line-topology-by-boundary-type-transform-vs-subduction-in-gplates-2-5/3227 "2026-03-18T04:15:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![mchin](https://discourse.gplates.org/user_avatar/discourse.gplates.org/mchin/32/2_2.png) [@mchin](https://discourse.gplates.org/u/mchin)
#### Post date: [18 March 2026 04:15 UTC](https://discourse.gplates.org/t/post-restored-by-mc-how-to-colour-resolved-line-topology-by-boundary-type-transform-vs-subduction-in-gplates-2-5/3227/1 "2026-03-18T04:15:18Z")

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**This post was originally posted by a user named “marko”. The system detected “New user typed too fast“ and silenced the user. The user deleted the account by self later. I have restored the post here just in case marko’s question could be helpful for other users.**

Hi,

I’m using GPlates 2.5 on Windows 11 and working with line topologies where a subduction zone intersects and consumes a ridge/transform system.

I have separate line features for:

- transform faults

- subduction zones

I would like the resolved topology segments to keep different colours, for example:

- transform = green

- subduction = blue

even after topology resolution.

I tried adding properties (e.g. Name = “transform” / “subduction”) to the original features and then building a line topology, but in Draw Style Settings I don’t see an option to colour by that property (no map values appear).

My questions are:

1. What is the recommended workflow to tag different boundary types so the resolved topology preserves them?

2. Which property should be used (gml:name, custom attribute, etc.)?

3. How do I correctly colour a topology layer by feature type in GPlates 2.5?

If possible, I’d really appreciate a step-by-step explanation.

Thank you!

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![john.cannon](https://discourse.gplates.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/3e96dc/32.png) [@john.cannon](https://discourse.gplates.org/u/john.cannon)
#### Post date: [24 March 2026 02:55 UTC](https://discourse.gplates.org/t/post-restored-by-mc-how-to-colour-resolved-line-topology-by-boundary-type-transform-vs-subduction-in-gplates-2-5/3227/2 "2026-03-24T02:55:10Z")

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Have a look at [Manage Colouring](https://www.gplates.org/docs/user-manual/Controlling_View/#5-manage-colouring) in the GPlates user manual. Specifically `Colour by feature type`. Since transforms and subduction zones are distinguished by their feature _type_ rather than by name. And your transforms and subduction zones should already have the correct feature types (since they should have been created with these feature types).

And you’ll want to colour the topology (purple) layer (containing your topologies).

In order to choose your own colours (instead of the default colours) you can `Add`a configuration in the Draw Style (under `FeatureType`) and load in your own Palette (a `.cpt` file). And the format for that file is something like…

```plaintext
SubductionZone 000/000/255
Transform 000/255/000

```

…where the colours are RGB triplets.