(a) Distribution of magnetic field lines (in gray) for the entire spatial domain of simulation 1 at t = 7.51 min. The red curve represents the field line that is anchored at the seed point (footpoint) location (x, y) = (1.61, 0) Mm (FP1), marked by the red circle. (b) Same as the top-left panel but for t = 12.52 min. The blue field line is anchored at the seed point location (x, y) = (2, 0) Mm (FP2). (c) The red and the blue curves represent the distribution of the shear, γ, along the red and blue field lines as shown in the top-left and top-right panels, respectively. The vertical dashed lines are the positions along the red field line marked by the gray dots (s₁, ..,s₄) at the top-left panel. (d) Distribution of γ along the field lines anchored at FP1 (red curve) and FP2 (blue curve) at the beginning of the semi-equilibrium phase at t = 5.44 min.