Reposted from Earth Logs by Steve Drury The Cryogenian Period that lasted from 860 to 635 million years ago is aptly named, for it encompassed two maybe three episodes of glaciation. Each left a mark on every modern continent and extended from the poles to the Equator. In some way, this series of long, frigid … Read more…
Since the Mesozoic, eastern NE Asia has experienced multiple tectonic events, resulting in a complex structure and forming one of the world’s largest Meso-Cenozoic lacustrine basin systems. Presently, basin evolution models require further elucidation regarding the simultaneous generation of diverse rift basins and the potential impact stemming from the closure of the Mudanjiang Ocean, whose … Read more…
GPlates is a free desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics. The compilation and documentation of GPlates 2.4 data was primarily funded by AuScope National Collaborative Research Infrastructure (NCRIS). GPlates is developed by the EarthByte Group (part of AuScope NCRIS) at the University of Sydney and the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS) … Read more…
In the context of continental extension, transient compressional episodes (stress inversion) and phases of uplift (depth inversion) are commonly recorded with no corresponding change in plate motion. Changes in gravitational potential energy during the rifting process have been invoked as a possible source of compressional stresses, but their magnitude, timing, and relationship with depth inversions … Read more…
Join us for an exciting exploration of the geological history of eastern NE Asia as Dr. Jianping Zhou, a postdoctoral researcher from Ocean University of China currently visiting the EarthByte Group, takes us on a journey through time and tectonics. In this EarthByte Seminar Series event, we will delve deep into the fascinating world of … Read more…
11 July 2023 Tectonic changes alter sea levels that can create breeding grounds for life Movement in the Earth’s tectonic plates indirectly triggers bursts of biodiversity in 36-million-year cycles by forcing sea levels to rise and fall, new research has shown. Dinosaur Stampede exhibit at Dinosaur Canyon, located in Queensland’s Winton Formation which was formed … Read more…
In the context of continental extension, transient compressional episodes (stress inversion) and phases of uplift (depth inversion) are commonly recorded with no corresponding change in plate motion. Changes in gravitational potential energy during the rifting process have been invoked as a possible source of compressional stresses, but their magnitude, timing, and relationship with depth inversions … Read more…
EarthByte Seminar Series presents the first talk of this year by Dr. Samuel C Boone from the University of Melbourne, titled “THERMOCHRONOLOGICAL INSIGHTS INTO CONTINENTAL BREAKUP PROCESSES.” The seminar will be held in the Madsen Building Room 449 (Conference Room) from 11 am (AEDT) Wednesday, 18th January. You are also welcome to join us live via Zoom (link: … Read more…
We report on the petrology, microstructure and seismic properties of 44 peridotite xenoliths extracted from the upper mantle beneath Marie Byrd Land (MBL), West Antarctica. The aim of this work is to understand how melt-rock reaction, refertilization, and deformation affected the seismic properties (velocities, anisotropy) of the West Antarctic upper mantle, in the context of … Read more…
PyBacktrack 1.4 is now available, and adds support for generating paleobathymetry grids from submerged present-day crust. PyBacktrack is available as a Python package and a Docker image. Installation instructions can be found online in the pyBacktrack documentation. Changes since version 1.3: Can now generate paleobathymetry grids: Submerged oceanic and continental present-day crust is backtracked and … Read more…
Join us at 11am this Wednesday 15th June for the latest installment of the EarthByte seminar series, featuring Sydney Uni’s own Matt Boyd! The seminar will be held over Zoom at the following link: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/82071832536. For more details, see below:
Recent progress in plate tectonic reconstructions has seen models move beyond the classical idea of continental drift by attempting to reconstruct the full evolving configuration of tectonic plates and plate boundaries. A particular problem for the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian is that many existing interpretations of geological and palaeomagnetic data have remained disconnected from younger, better-constrained … Read more…
By Adriana Dutkiewicz Abstract: Scientific ocean drilling data collected over half a century have generated a treasure trove of data to map deep sea currents. We have compiled data from more than 200 drill sites to map the continuity of the deep sea sedimentary record and to understand how global warming– or cooling – is … Read more…
Long-term variations in eustatic sea level in an ice-free world, which existed through most of the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic eras, are partly driven by changes in the volume of ocean basins. Previous studies have determined ocean basin volume changes from plate tectonic reconstructions since the Mesozoic; however, these studies have not considered a number … Read more…
A journey across the Atlantic seafloor More than two thirds of our planet are covered by water. What lies underneath is a mystery – only 20 percent of the sea floor has been explored in detail. But hasn’t it always appealed to you, this underwater world with all its mysteries? Then join us for a … Read more…
The deep-sea stratigraphic record is full of gaps. These hiatuses track changes in ocean circulation and chemistry, but determining their timing and causes has been limited by sparse data and incomplete knowledge of ocean gateway evolution in earlier studies. We combine a significantly expanded, age-calibrated deep-sea stratigraphic database with a global tectonic and paleo–water depth … Read more…
Carbonatites have formed for at least the past three billion years. But over the past 700 My the incidence of carbonatites have significantly increased. We compile an updated list of 609 carbonatite occurrences and plot 387 of known age on plate tectonic reconstructions. Plate reconstructions from Devonian to present show that 75% of carbonatites are … Read more…
A drastic change in plate tectonics and mantle convection occurred around 50 Ma as exemplified by the prominent Hawaiian– Emperor Bend. Both an abrupt Pacific Plate motion change and a change in mantle plume dynamics have been proposed to account for the Hawaiian–Emperor Bend, but debates surround the relative contribution of the two mechanisms. Here … Read more…
The next instalment of the EarthByte seminar series will be held at 11am–12pm Wednesday 27th October, featuring Jiashun Hu from the Southern University of Science and Technology in China. Once again, the seminar will be held online via Zoom, at https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/82617614557. For more details, see below:
The origin of Shatsky Rise, a large igneous plateau in the NW Pacific, has long been debated. It could have either formed by shallow mantle melting due to its confirmed creation along a mid-ocean ridge or with additional contribution of deeper mantle material that upwelled as so-called mantle plume beneath the spreading ridge (“plume-ridge interaction”). … Read more…
GPlates 2.3 is released! It enables computation of tectonic syn- and post-rift subsidence for basins/margins, supports Retina displays, can export GeoJSON files and comes with many bugfixes. Download GPlates2.3
The plate tectonic theory says that Earth’s surface is made up of slabs of rock that are slowly shifting right under our feet. Because of this constant movement, today’s Earth looks a lot different from what it did millions of years ago. In 1912, German scientist Alfred Wegener proposed that Earth’s continents once formed a … Read more…
GPlates is a free desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics. The compilation and documentation of GPlates 2.3 data was primarily funded by AuScope National Collaborative Research Infrastructure (NCRIS). GPlates is developed by the EarthByte Group (part of AuScope NCRIS) at the University of Sydney and the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS) … Read more…
Assessing the size of a former ocean of which only remnants are found in mountain belts is challenging but crucial to understanding subduction and exhumation processes. Here we present new constraints on the opening and width of the Piemont–Liguria (PL) Ocean, known as the Alpine Tethys together with the Valais Basin. We use a regional … Read more…
Abstract: Anomalous topographic swells and Cenozoic volcanism in east Africa have been associated with mantle plumes. Several models involving one or more fixed plumes beneath the northeastward migrating African plate have been suggested to explain the space-time distribution of magmatism in east Africa. We devise paleogeographically constrained global models of mantle convection and, based on … Read more…
Postgraduate research scholarship at the EarthByte Group Up to $84,000 stipend scholarship to support a PhD student to research plate-plume interactions. Highlights Value Eligibility $28,000 pa (for up to 3 years) Full-time PhD student at the School of Geosciences Hold an honours or master’s degree How to apply Send expressions of interest to Dr … Read more…
Abstract: Long-term variations in eustatic sea level in an ice-free world, which existed through most of the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic eras, are partly driven by changes in the volume of ocean basins. Previous studies have determined ocean basin volume changes from plate tectonic reconstructions since the Mesozoic; however, these studies have not considered a … Read more…
Abstract: Plate reconstructions since the breakup of Pangaea are mostly based on the preserved spreading history of ocean basins, within absolute reference frames that are constrained by a combination of age-progressive hotspot tracks and palaeomagnetic data. The evolution of destructive plate margins is difficult to constrain from surface observations as much of the evidence has … Read more…
PyBacktrack 1.3 is now available as a Python package and a Docker image. The documentation is available at: https://pybacktrack.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ Changes since version 1.2: Supports Python 3: please also use the recent pyGPlates Python 3 release. Added the following output columns: dynamic_topography: change in dynamic topography elevation since present day decompacted_depth: depth from fully decompacted layers (using surface porosity only) … Read more…
The GPlates team has updated the relative and absolute plate motions in the Muller et al. (2019) reconstructions. The details of the updates are summarised below. Version 2.0 of the model (including GPlates files, age-grids, global and regional animations, stretching factor grids, etc.) are available to download from this link. The Muller et al. (2019) … Read more…