When making reconstructions in GPlates one often wants to colour features by their geological age. Using the colour scheme of the Geological Time Scale is a way accepted by the community to associate absolute (and stratigraphic) ages with colour. When reconstructing data in GPlates using the default FeatureAge option for styling, however, features “grow older” as the colouring is applied relative to age of the feature, depending on reconstruction age. As most geoscientists are cognitively tuned to more static maps, changing colours with age can be quite confusing. Here's a recipe to maintain constant or “absolute” age colouring in GPlates when reconstructing data.

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