Dietmar Müller attends Australian open research data showcase in Canberra

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ANDS Showcase June 2015Today Prof Dietmar Müller attended the Australian open research data showcase in Canberra. The showcase featured a variety of talks and discussions around the benefits and issues concerning open research data. It was an important milestone towards consolidating the Australian effort towards involving Universities and individual researchers in sharing their data.

A highlight was Ian Chubb’s presentation that pointed out that if you look at all papers published in the last 115 years, about 50% were either never cited or only cited once. The hope is that open access publications and associated open research data will improve these sorts of statistics. George Bernard Shaw was quoted by geologist Geoffrey Boulton (Univ. Edinburgh) as pointing out: “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. … Read more…

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Lithos – Overlapping Sr-Nd-Hf-O isotopic compositions in Permian mafic enclaves and host granitoids in Alxa Block, NW China: Evidence of crust-mantle interaction and implications for the generation of silicic igneous provinces

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Dan, W., Wang, Q., Wang, X. C., Liu, Y., Wyman, D. A., & Liu, Y. S. (2015). Overlapping Sr–Nd–Hf–O isotopic compositions in Permian mafic enclaves and host granitoids in Alxa Block, NW China: Evidence for crust–mantle interaction and implications for the generation of silicic igneous provinces. Lithos, 230, 133-145. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2015.05.016. Overlapping Sr–Nd–Hf–O isotopic compositions in … Read more…

Plate reconstruction with ocean basin paleo-ages

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A global animation accompanying the publication Global continental and ocean basin reconstructions since 200 Ma.Citation Seton, M., et al. (2012), Global continental and ocean basin reconstructions since 200 Ma, Earth-Science Reviews, 113(3-4), 212-270. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2012.03.002.View the full playlist on our EarthByte YouTube channel

Plate reconstruction with paleo-bathymetry of the ocean basins

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Reconstructions of tectonic plates and oceanic paleodepth (i.e. paleobathymetry).Citation Müller, R., M. Sdrolias, C. Gaina, and W. Roest (2008). Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world’s ocean crust, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 9(4), 19, Q04006. doi: 10.1029/2007GC001743.View the full playlist on our EarthByte YouTube channel

Geodynamics of arc-continent collisions

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Courtesy of Prof Louis Moresi, created with the ellipsis software.Citation O’Neill, C., Moresi, L., Müller, R.D., Albert, R. and Dufour, F., 2006, Ellipsis 3D: a particle-in-cell finite element hybrid code for modelling mantle convection and lithospheric deformation, Computers and Geosciences, 32, 1769-1779.View other EarthByte animations on our YouTube channel

School of Geosciences Awards Evening winners

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Tonight was the annual School of Geosciences Awards Evening held at the Macleay Museum. Congratulations to EarthByters Mike Tetley, Dr Sabin Zahirovic, Andrew Merdith, Sarah MacLeod, Carmen Braz, Luke Hardiman and Serena Yeung for receiving academic and School service awards! Dr Maral Hosseinpour was photographer for the evening and took some brilliant photos!

Nature Geoscience – Long-term interaction between mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes

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Whittaker, J. M., Afonso, J. C., Masterton, S., Müller, R. D., Wessel, P., Williams, S. E., & Seton, M. (2015). Long-term interaction between mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes. Nature Geoscience, 8(6), 479-483. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2437. Summary Plate tectonic motions are commonly considered to be driven by slab pull at subduction zones and ridge push at mid-ocean … Read more…

Long-term interaction between mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes

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Whittaker et al 2015 MORs plumes LIPSCitation
Whittaker, J. M., Afonso, J. C., Masterton, S., Müller, R. D., Wessel, P., Williams, S. E., & Seton, M. (2015). Long-term interaction between mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes. Nature Geoscience, 8(6), 479-483.

Summary
Plate tectonic motions are commonly considered to be driven by slab pull at subduction zones and ridge push at mid-ocean ridges, with motion punctuated by plumes of hot material rising from the lower mantle. Within this model, the geometry and location of mid-ocean ridges are considered to be independent of lower-mantle dynamics, such as deeply sourced plumes that produce voluminous lava eruptions-termed large igneous provinces. Here we use a global plate model to reconstruct the locations of large igneous provinces relative to plumes and mid-ocean ridges at the time they formed. … Read more…

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Geochemisty, Geophysics, Geosystems – Provenance of plumes in mantle convection models

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Hassan, R., Flament, N., Gurnis, M., Bower, D. J., & Müller, D. (2015). Provenance of plumes in global convection models. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. doi: 10.1002/2015GC005751. Provenance of plumes in global convection models

Geophysical Journal International – Absolute motion of Africa around Hawaii-Emperor bend time

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Maher, S. M., Wessel, P., Müller, R. D., Williams, S. E., & Harada, Y. (2015). Absolute plate motion of Africa around Hawaii-Emperor bend time. Geophysical Journal International, 201(3), 1743-1764. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggv104. Absolute plate motion of Africa around Hawaii-Emperor bend time Download supplementary materials – zip file

Sabin Zahirovic attends Deep Carbon Observatory workshop in Washington DC

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Dr Sabin Zahirovic attended a Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) workshop at the Smithsonian Institution’s Ripley Center in Washington DC this week. The workshop focused on visualising and modelling deep carbon, and also communicating findings to the scientific community and general public. Sabin gave a presentation and live demonstration of GPlates, highlighting how the software could … Read more…

Nature Geoscience – Deformation-related volcanism in the Pacific Ocean linked to the Hawaiin-Emperor bend

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O’Connor, J. M., Hoernle, K., Müller, R. D., Morgan, J. P., Butterworth, N. P., Hauff, F., … & Stoffers, P. (2015). Deformation-related volcanism in the Pacific Ocean linked to the Hawaiian-Emperor bend. Nature Geoscience, 8(5), 393-397. doi: 10.1038/NGEO2416. Deformation-related volcanism in the Pacific Ocean linked to the Hawaiian–Emperor bend

Earth and Planetary Science Letters – Climate changes control offshore crustal structure at South China Sea continental margin

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Clift, P. D., Brune, S., & Quinteros, J. (2015). Climate changes control offshore crustal structure at South China Sea continental margin. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 420, 66-72. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.03.032. Climate changes control offshore crustal structure at South China Sea continental margin Download supporting information – pdf

Lord Howe Rise IODP workshop held at University of Sydney

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Date: 2015 April 7-10 Venue: The University of Sydney Description: A science meeting at the University of Sydney was held to discuss details of the seven science themes in the Geoscience Australia (GA) – Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) initiated Lord Howe Rise IODP Pre-proposal, IODP proposal 871-Pre. The purpose of the meeting was to look … Read more…

Evaluating global paleoshoreline models for the Cretaceous and Cenozoic

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Early CretaceousCitation
Heine, C., Yeo, L. G., & Müller, R. D. (2015). Evaluating global paleoshoreline models for the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, (ahead-of-print), 1-13., doi: 10.1080/08120099.2015.1018321.

Summary
Paleoshoreline maps represent the distribution of land and sea through geologic time. These compilations provide excellent proxies for evaluating the contributions non-tectonic vertical crustal motions, such as mantle convection-driven dynamic topography, to the flooding histories of continental platforms. Until now, such data have not been available as a globally coherent compilation. Here, we present and evaluate a set of Cretaceous and Cenozoic global shoreline data extracted from two independent published global paleogeographic atlases. … Read more…

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Tectonic speed limits from plate kinematic reconstructions

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Plate velocities summary figureCitation
Zahirovic, S., Müller, R. D., Seton, M., & Flament, N. (2015). Tectonic speed limits from plate kinematic reconstructions. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 418, 40-52. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2015.02.037.

Summary
The motion of plates and continents on the planet’s surface are a manifestation of long-term mantle convection and plate tectonics. Present-day plate velocities provide a snapshot of this ongoing process, and have been used to infer controlling factors on the speeds of plates and continents. However, present-day velocities do not capture plate behaviour over geologically representative periods of time. To address this shortcoming, we use a plate tectonic reconstruction approach to extract time-dependent plate velocities and geometries from which root mean square (RMS) velocities are computed, resulting in a median RMS plate speed of ~4 cm/yr over 200 Myr.  … Read more…

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ScienceNews features an article on Pacific plate motions paper

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EarthByte paper ‘Revision of Paleogene plate motions in the Pacific and implications for the Hawaiian-Emperor bend‘ is featured in ScienceNews with an article entitled ‘Plate loss gave chain of Pacific islands and seamounts a bend‘. Revision of Paleogene plate motions in the Pacific and implications for the Hawaiian-Emperor bend

Global plate and continental velocities since Pangea breakup

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This animation portrays the motion of continents (grey, yellow, orange and red) and oceanic plates (blue) since Pangea breakup from 200 million years ago. The model is a modified version of the Seton et al.Citation Zahirovic, S., R. Müller, M. Seton, and N. Flament (2015), Tectonic speed limits from plate kinematic reconstructions, Earth and Planetary … Read more…

Sabin Zahirovic features in Science Magazine

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Congratulations to Sabin, who has made it to the News front page of the Science Magazine with a news article entitled ‘Earth’s tectonic plates skitter about‘ about a recently published paper in Earth and Planetary Science letters: Tectonic speed limits from plate kinematic reconstructions. Well done Sabin! Link to download the paper

Geophysical Research Letters – Ridge subduction sparked reorganisation of the Pacific plate-mantle system 60-50 million years ago

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Seton, M., Flament, N., Whittaker, J., Müller, R. D., Gurnis, M., & Bower, D. J. (2015). Ridge subduction sparked reorganization of the Pacific plate‐mantle system 60–50 million years ago. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(6), 1732-1740. doi: 10.1002/2015GL063057. Ridge subduction sparked reorganization of the Pacific plate‐mantle system 60–50 million years ago

A tectonic model reconciling evidence for the collisions between India, Eurasia and intra-oceanic arcs of the central-eastern Tethys

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Gibbons etal AgeGrid Vels MagPicks v3 0175Citation
Gibbons, A., Zahirovic, S., Muller, R.D., Whittaker, J., and Yatheesh, V. 2015. A tectonic model reconciling evidence for the collisions between India, Eurasia and intra-oceanic arcs of the central-eastern Tethys. Gondwana Research FOCUS, doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2015.01.001.

Summary
Despite several decades of investigations, inferences on the timing and nature of collisions along the Mesozoic–Cenozoic Eurasian margin remain controversial. We assimilate geological and geophysical evidence into a plate tectonic model for the India–Eurasia collision that includes continuously– … Read more…

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Ore Geology Reviews – Prospectivity of Western Australian iron ore from geophysical data using a reject option classifier

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Merdith, A. S., Landgrebe, T. C., & Müller, R. D. (2015). Prospectivity of Western Australian iron ore from geophysical data using a reject option classifier. Ore Geology Reviews. doi: 10.1016/j.oregeorev.2015.03.014. Prospectivity of Western Australian iron ore from geophysical data using a reject option classifier

Geology – Revision of Paleogene plate motions in the Pacific and implications for the Hawaiian-Emperor bend

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Wright, N. M., Müller, R. D., Seton, M., & Williams, S. E. (2015). Revision of Paleogene plate motions in the Pacific and implications for the Hawaiian-Emperor bend. Geology, 43(5), 455-458. doi: 10.1130/G36303.1. Revision of Paleogene plate motions in the Pacific and implications for the Hawaiian-Emperor bend

Earth and Planetary Science Reviews – Absolute plate motions since 130 ma constrained by subduction zone kinematics

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Williams, S., Flament, N., Müller, R. D., & Butterworth, N. (2015). Absolute plate motions since 130 Ma constrained by subduction zone kinematics. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 418, 66-77. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2015.02.026. Absolute plate motions since 130 Ma constrained by subduction zone kinematics