Research voyage on RV Investigator funded for 2016

by

Dr Maria Seton and Dr Simon Williams from the School of Geosciences and colleagues from GNS Science and the Geological Survey of New Caledonia were awarded ship time on Australia’s new, state-of-the-art research vessel, the RV Investigator. The supplementary voyage, with Dr Seton as Chief Scientist, will investigate the continuity of Australian terranes into Zealandia … Read more…

GPlates 1.5 software and data sets

by
GPlates 1.5 Promo

GPlates 1.5 PromoGPlates is a free desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics. The compilation and documentation of GPlates 1.5 data was primarily funded by AuScope National Collaborative Research Infrastructure (NCRIS).

GPlates is developed by an international team of scientists and professional software developers at the EarthByte Project (part of AuScope) at the University of Sydney, the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS) at CalTech, the Geodynamics team at the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) and the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED) at the University of Oslo.  … Read more…

Share

Age, spreading rates and spreading asymmetry of the world’s ocean crust

by

agegrid_ageerror_2008 rategrid_asymgrid_2008We present four companion digital models of the age, age uncertainty, spreading rates and spreading asymmetries of the world’s ocean basins as geographic and Mercator grids with 2 minute resolution. The grids include data from all the major ocean basins as well as detailed reconstructions of back-arc basins.

The age, spreading rate and asymmetry at each grid node is determined by linear interpolation between adjacent seafloor isochrons in the direction of spreading. Ages for ocean floor between the oldest identified magnetic anomalies and continental crust are interpolated by geological estimates of the ages of passive continental margin segments. … Read more…

Share

Specialised short courses available in April 2015

by

Coming up in April 2015 we will be running our annual short courses for Honours students and post graduate geoscientists. These courses offer students a unique opportunity to engage in specialised studies aimed at introducing them to some of the powerful computational tools used today in leading-edge research of Geoscience. Below are links to the appropriate information if you wish to enrol:  … Read more…

Share

Supplementary resources for "Absolute plate motions since 130 Ma constrained by subduction zone kinematics"

by

Williams et al 2015 figure 3Citation
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.

Summary
The supplementary data set comprise plate reconstructions from 130 Ma to present-day, designed to be used within the open-source reconstruction software GPlates.

There are eight sets of reconstructions. In each case, the relative plate motion (RPM) model is unchanged; the differences lie in the absolute plate motion (APM) model. This is expressed in the rotation file as the finite poles of rotation that describe motion of Africa relative to the Earth’s spin-axis. These files were the basis of the results presented in the EPSL paper.  … Read more…

Share

Supplementary resources for “Absolute plate motions since 130 Ma constrained by subduction zone kinematics”

by

Williams et al 2015 figure 3Citation
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.

Summary
The supplementary data set comprise plate reconstructions from 130 Ma to present-day, designed to be used within the open-source reconstruction software GPlates.

There are eight sets of reconstructions. In each case, the relative plate motion (RPM) model is unchanged; the differences lie in the absolute plate motion (APM) model. This is expressed in the rotation file as the finite poles of rotation that describe motion of Africa relative to the Earth’s spin-axis. These files were the basis of the results presented in the EPSL paper.  … Read more…

Share

Earth and Planetary Science Letters – Tectonic speed limits from plate kinematic reconstructions

by

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. Tectonic speed limits from plate kinematic reconstructions

Experimental release of GPlates 1.5+Hellinger

by
GPlates 1.5 Promo

An experimental release of GPlates 1.5+Hellinger was released this week. This version includes all GPlates 1.5 functionality as well as a Hellinger Tool to calculate best-fitting poles to segmented magnetic pick data points. The tool uses a Python implementation of the FORTRAN program by Chang and others and is compatible with FORTRAN data files which can … Read more…

Paper published in Lithos – Geochemistry and radiogenic isotope characteristics of xenoliths in Archean diamondiferous lamprophyres: Implications for the Superior province cratonic keel

by

Wyman, D. A., Hollings, P., & Conceição, R. V. (2015). Geochemistry and radiogenic isotope characteristics of xenoliths in Archean diamondiferous lamprophyres: Implications for the Superior Province cratonic keel. Lithos. doi: 10.1016/j.lithos.2015.02.018. Geochemistry and radiogenic isotope characteristics of xenoliths in Archean diamondiferous lamprophyres: Implications for the Superior Province cratonic keel

Tectonophysics – Timing of formation and exhumation of the Montagne Noire double dome, French Massif Central

by

Roger, F., Teyssier, C., Respaut, J. P., Rey, P. F., Jolivet, M., Whitney, D. L., … & Brunel, M. (2015). Timing of formation and exhumation of the Montagne Noire double dome, French Massif Central. Tectonophysics, 640, 53-69. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2014.12.002. Timing of formation and exhumation of the Montagne Noire double dome, French Massif Central

Australian Journal of Earth Sciences – Evaluating global paleoshoreline models for the Cretaceous and Cenozoic

by

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. Evaluating global paleoshoreline models for the Cretaceous and Cenozoic Download the Paleocoastline files – zip file

Gondwana Research – Origin of silica and fingerprinting of Australian sedimentary opals

by

Dutkiewicz, A., Landgrebe, T. C., & Rey, P. F. (2015). Origin of silica and fingerprinting of Australian sedimentary opals. Gondwana Research, 27(2), 786-795. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2013.10.013. Origin of silica and fingerprinting of Australian sedimentary opals

ANDS-MODC

by

ANDS logoEarthByte, in collaboration with The University of Sydney Library and ICT department, is involved in an important ANDS-MODC funded project to ensure that EarthByte data collections are supported by a robust data management regime. This is to enhance the sustainability, discoverability and re-use of these resources.  … Read more…

Share

Australian Journal of Earth Sciences – Uncovering the relationship between subducting bathymetric ridges and volcanic chains with significant earthquakes using geophysical data mining

by

Landgrebe, T. C. W., & Müller, R. D. (2015). Uncovering the relationship between subducting bathymetric ridges and volcanic chains with significant earthquakes using geophysical data mining. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 62(2), 171-180. doi: 10.1080/08120099.2015.1003145. Uncovering the relationship between subducting bathymetric ridges and volcanic chains with significant earthquakes using geophysical data mining

PhD scholarship in Plate Tectonics/ Geodynamics/ Morphodynamics

by
BasinGensisHub logo

Applications are invited for a PhD scholarship in Plate Tectonics/ Geodynamics/ Morphodynamics working with members of the Basin Genesis Hub (an ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub) within the EarthByte Group at the School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney. Click here to learn more about the scholarship

Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors – Assimilating lithosphere and slab history in 4-D Earth models

by

Bower, D. J., Gurnis, M., & Flament, N. (2015). Assimilating lithosphere and slab history in 4-D Earth models. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 238, 8-22. doi: 10.1016/j.pepi.2014.10.013. Assimilating lithosphere and slab history in 4-D Earth models

Earth-Science Reviews – Geological and kinematic constraints on late Cretaceous to mid Eocene plate boundaries in the Southwest Pacific

by

Matthews, K. J., Williams, S. E., Whittaker, J. M., Müller, R. D., Seton, M., & Clarke, G. L. (2015). Geologic and kinematic constraints on Late Cretaceous to mid Eocene plate boundaries in the southwest Pacific. Earth-Science Reviews, 140, 72-107. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.10.008. Geologic and kinematic constraints on Late Cretaceous to mid Eocene plate boundaries in the southwest … Read more…

What is EarthByte?

by
Various images of EarthByte research

The EarthByte Research Group pursues geodata synthesis through space and time, building a deep-time virtual Earth. The group is well-known for open innovation via collaborative software development, “big data” analysis and its global open access digital data collections. The EarthByters lead the collaborative development of open-source virtual Earth software, including GPlates, pyGPlates, GPlately, the GPlates web service and portal, the GPlates App, pyBacktrack, and numerous … Read more…

GPlates

by
raster_0029Ma

GPlates is desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate tectonics. The EarthByte Group leads the development of the open-source plate reconstruction software GPlates. GPlates enables the interactive manipulation of plate tectonic reconstructions and the visualisation of geodata through geological time, and it facilitates interoperability of plate tectonic data and models with geodynamic computing services for … Read more…

GPlates Portal

by
Lithology globe Aus Ant view

Lithology globe Aus Ant viewThe GPlates Portal is a free and interactive cloud-based tool that enables the visualisation of cutting-edge geoscience datasets. Using a published plate kinematic model, datasets can be reconstructed back through time to the Jurassic, 200 million years ago.

Currently, global satellite-derived vertical gravity gradient data can be visualised via the Portal, and global maps of free-air gravity anomalies and magnetic anomalies can be tectonically reconstructed.

The GPlates Portal is also the gateway to the Paleomap Maker, a web service designed to provide researchers with plate-tectonic data reconstruction and visualization services. The core reconstruction engine is powered by the cutting-edge open-source plate-tectonic reconstruction software, GPlates, and the visualization is made available by using Matplotlib Basemap Toolkit. … Read more…

Share