The phrase “older than dirt” labels something as exceptionally old. Deep time is the term scientists use for the billions of years of Earth’s history. Both terms proved apt In researching the geography of my home in eastern Fauquier County. It is situated in the Culpeper Basin, a geological formation created about 200 million years ago by the forces that also created the Atlantic Ocean: plate tectonics. I created this short video to visualize the history of the Culpeper Basin.
Explore the area within the basin’s boundaries in Google Maps.
Making the video required acquiring some new skills. The first was learning GPlates, a free plate tectonics program for visualizing and manipulating reconstructions of Earth’s features through geological time. GPlates provides a series of short tutorials to learn step by step. Of course, software’s power depends on having the necessary data. Much of that came ready made from Dr. Christopher Scotese’s PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for GPlates.
I had also been testing and learning some of the new artificial intelligence applications. AI proved its worth in reducing research time (Perplexity search) and producing several royalty free images (Microsoft Copilot) to visually support the narration in six parts of the video. The use of these AI-generated images is the reason I noted that the video contains “Altered or synthetic content.”
Once the imagery and script were ready, producing the video was quite easy with Microsoft’s Clipchamp video editor (free version). I especially appreciated its AI text to speech generator, which, if desired, can automatically create voiceovers. I pasted in my script text and received a perfectly voiced narration within seconds in my chosen voice from the many available. Other tools used were QGIS for making maps and Inkscape drawing software, both free. The sources on the Culpeper Basin, a long-standing personal interest, are listed in the video’s end credits. Most are by researchers of the U. S. Geological Survey.
GPlates is a powerful tool for exploring plate tectonics theory. The PaleoAtlas, however, provides a groundbreaking way to study and visualize the Culpeper Basin’s development and evolution within the broader context of Earth’s geological history.
I’m currently reading “The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs” by paleontologist Steve Brusatte. it’s a coincidence that I picked this book up so soon after developing the Culpeper Basin history video. Wish I had read this in my research. Chapter 3 tells in very readable and enjoyable detail the climate, evolution of animals, and earth changing geological events in the breakup of Pangea, which created the conditions for dinosaurs to thrive and rise to dominance. If this interests you I highly recommend Steve’s book. He is a scientist who writes like a journalist.