distance_from_pb: Distance from plate boundary

In tectonicr: Analyzing the Orientation of Maximum Horizontal Stress

Distance from plate boundary

Description

Absolute distance of data points from the nearest plate boundary

Usage

distance_from_pb(x, PoR, pb, tangential = FALSE, km = FALSE, ...)

Arguments

x	sf or data.frame objects of the data points in geographical coordinate system
PoR	Pole of Rotation. "data.frame" or object of class "euler.pole" containing the geographical coordinates of the Pole of Rotation
pb	sf objects of the plate boundary geometries in the geographical coordinate system
tangential	Logical. Whether the plate boundary is a tangential boundary (TRUE) or an inward and outward boundary (FALSE, the default).
km	Logical. Whether the distance is expressed in kilometers (TRUE) or in degrees (FALSE, the default).
...	optional arguments passed to smoothr::densify()

Details

The distance to the plate boundary is the longitudinal or latitudinal difference between the data point and the plate boundary (along the closest latitude or longitude) for inward/outward or tangential plate boundaries, respectively.

Value

Numeric vector of the great circle distances in units defined by km.

Note

Stresses emanate from the plate boundary along great circles, small circles or loxodromes associated with the pole of rotation. Hence the emanation distance is not necessarily the shortest distance to the plate boundary, which is measured along a great circle unrelated to the pole of rotation. The differences are particularly notable when the plate boundary is kinked or for convergent and divergent plate boundaries.

References

Wdowinski, S. (1998). A theory of intraplate tectonics. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 103(3), 5037<U+2013>5059. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/97JB03390

Examples

data("nuvel1")
na_pa <- subset(nuvel1, nuvel1$plate.rot == "na")

data("plates")
plate_boundary <- subset(plates, plates$pair == "na-pa")

data("san_andreas")
res <- distance_from_pb(
  x = san_andreas, PoR = na_pa, pb = plate_boundary, tangential = TRUE
)
head(res)

res.km <- distance_from_pb(
  x = san_andreas, PoR = na_pa, pb = plate_boundary, tangential = TRUE, km = TRUE
)
range(res.km)

tectonicr documentation built on June 8, 2025, 11:33 a.m.