Closed loop experiments in global geodynamic earth models

Recent advances in computational capabilities make it possible to compute global geodynamic earth models at near earthlike convective vigor. This paves the way to systematically obtain a range of synthetic data from such models in an approach that is known as closed loop experiments. Here we present results from closed loop experiments in geodynamic earth models targeted at three classes of data that are sensitive to the mantle convection process, namely seismic data, global stress patterns as reflected by the world stress map, and continent scale stratigraphy processed for the distribution of conformable and unconformable successions in recently developed so called hiatus maps. Our results reveal effects from spatially variable data collection and quality (as expected), mantle flow geometries (less expected) and (still poorly known) histories of paleo mantle flow. We conclude that the derivation of process based synthetic data from geodynamic earth models provides crucial information for data interpretion, that closed loop experiments are
a powerful tool to link geodynamic earth models to data, and that closed loop experiments could be helpful to guide future data collection efforts.