The Virtual Observatory: Deep time travel in the Pacific, presented by Dietmar Müller

Deep Time Travel — it’s not just science fiction! The EarthByte Group is developing an Experimental Virtual Planet to explore Earth’s geological evolution, enabling deep time travel from your own laptop, anywhere, anytime, and all without a police box. In this illustrated talk, Australian Laureate Fellow Professor Dietmar Müller reports on the experimental work of … Read more…

Science – New global marine gravity model from Cryo-Sat-2 and Jason-1 reveals buried tectonic structure

Sandwell, D. T., Müller, R. D., Smith, W. H., Garcia, E., & Francis, R. (2014). New global marine gravity model from CryoSat-2 and Jason-1 reveals buried tectonic structure. science, 346(6205), 65-67. doi: 10.1126/science.1258213.

New global marine gravity model from CryoSat-2 and Jason-1 reveals buried tectonic structure

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New global marine gravity model, Sandwell et al. (2014)

Indian Ocean View Westward from AustraliaCitation
Sandwell, D. T., Müller, R. D., Smith, W. H. F., Garcia, E. and Francis, R. 2014. New global marine gravity model from Cryo-Sat-2 and jason-1 reveals buried tectonic structure. Science, Vol. 346, 6205, pp. 65-67, doi: 10.1126/science.1258213.

Summary
New global marine gravity model from CryoSat-2 and Jason-1 reveals buried tectonic structure.

View the new gravity map in an online 3D portal!

Gravity models are powerful tools for mapping tectonic structures, especially in the deep ocean basins where the topography remains unmapped by ships or is buried by thick sediment. We combined new radar altimeter measurements from satellites CryoSat-2 and Jason-1 with existing data to construct a global marine gravity model that is two times more accurate than previous models. We found an extinct spreading ridge in the Gulf of Mexico, a … Read more…

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Post-Jurassic tectonic evolution of southeast Asia from Zahirovic et al. (2014)

Asia Zahirovic 20maCitation
Zahirovic, S., Seton, M., and Müller, R. D., (2014). The Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Southeast Asia: Solid Earth (EGU).

Summary
Tectonic reconstructions of Southeast Asia have given rise to numerous controversies that include the accretionary history of Sundaland and the enigmatic tectonic origin of the Proto South China Sea. We assimilate a diversity of geological and geophysical observations into a new regional plate model, coupled to a global model, to address these debates.

Our approach takes into account terrane suturing and accretion histories, the location of subducted slabs imaged in mantle tomography in order to constrain the evolution of regional subduction zones, as well as plausible absolute and relative plate velocities and tectonic driving mechanisms. … Read more…

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The tectonic stress field evolution of India since the Oligocene

Muller etal India Paleostress Graphical AbstractCitation
Müller, R. D., Yatheesh, V., & Shuhail, M. (2014). The tectonic stress field evolution of India since the Oligocene. Gondwana Research.

Summary
We use a 2 dimensional finite element model with heterogeneous elastic strengths in continental areas to model the regional stress field orientation and relative magnitudes in and around India for 33 Ma, 20 Ma and the present day. The large-scale geological structure of India is embedded in our model by using published outlines of cratons, fold belts and basins, associated with estimates of their relative strengths, enabling the modelling of stress field deflections along interfaces between relatively strong and weak tectonic elements through time. … Read more…

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EarthByte Group makes the finals of the Eureka Prize

The EarthByte group is a finalist for the Eureka Prize from the Australian Museum, for its development of GPlates software! The prize is awarded annually for research innovation and GPlates was nominated for providing a “experimental virtual planet” to investigate geological systems through deep time. You can read more about the Eureka Prize here. Watch the … Read more…

Solid Earth – Pacific plate slab pull and intraplate deformation in the early Cenozoic

Butterworth, N. P., Müller, R. D., Quevedo, L., O’Connor, J. M., Hoernle, K., & Morra, G. (2014). Pacific Plate slab pull and intraplate deformation in the early Cenozoic. Solid Earth, 5(2). doi: 10.5194/se-5-757-2014. Pacific Plate slab pull and intraplate deformation in the early Cenozoic

Plate reconstructions of Southeast Asia

This animation is from our recent work on Southeast Asian plate reconstructions.Read the peer-reviewed paperCitationZahirovic, S., M. Seton, and R. Müller (2014), The Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Southeast Asia, Solid Earth (EGU), 5, 227-273. doi: 10.5194/se-5-227-2014.View similar animations on our EarthByte YouTube channel

Integrating deep-Earth and surface processes for frontier-basin exploration

Project Summary
Sea level has changed by up to 300m through geological time. These fluctuations, caused by plate tectonics and convection in the Earth’s mantle, have created vast sedimentary basins and associated resources such as petroleum, natural gas and coal.

In this project, we propose to bring together global 4D databases with cutting-edge 3D numerical simulations to reconstruct how mid-ocean ridge creation and the recycling of old, cold oceanic plates into the mantle have driven surface topography and sea-level change globally since the breakup of the super-continent Pangaea. … Read more…

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Gondwanaland extension, breakup and continental margin evolution

Project Summary
Plate reconstruction models for the rifting and separation of Gondwanaland’s conjugate margins continue to be poorly constrained in detail. We propose to develop a new plate model for the entire Indian ocean by synthesizing old and new geological and geophysical data using our plate tectonic software system. We will test continental fit reconstruction hypotheses and alternative models for the early opening of the Indian Ocean by using a variety of reconstructed gridded and vector data sets.  … Read more…

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Solid Earth – The Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Southeast Asia

Zahirovic, S., Seton, M., & Müller, R. D. (2014). The Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Southeast Asia. Solid Earth, 5(1), 227-273. doi:10.5194/se-5-227-2014. The Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Southeast Asia Download supplementary material – zip file

Tectonophysics – Cenozoic uplift of South Western Australia as constrained by river profiles

Barnett-Moore, N., Flament, N., Heine, C., Butterworth, N., & Müller, R. D. (2014). Cenozoic uplift of south Western Australia as constrained by river profiles. Tectonophysics, 622, 186-197. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2014.03.010. Cenozoic uplift of south Western Australia as constrained by river profiles

Geophysics – Mapping crustal thickness using marine gravity data: Methods and uncertainties

Bai, Y., Williams, S. E., Müller, R. D., Liu, Z., & Hosseinpour, M. (2014). Mapping crustal thickness using marine gravity data: Methods and uncertainties. Geophysics, 79(2), G27-G36. doi: 10.1190/GEO2013-0270. Mapping crustal thickness using marine gravity data: Methods and uncertainties Download supplementary material

Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems – Community infrastructure and repository for marine magnetic identifications

magnetic_picks_globeMagnetic anomaly identifications form the primary data set from which the age of the oceanic lithosphere can be determined, a critical component of reconstructing the seafloor spreading history of ocean basins. This data is now available as part of an open source, community-driven online repository that contains quality-checked magnetic anomaly picks, organised by ocean basin and publication source.

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Solid Earth – Pacific plate slab pull and intraplate deformation in the early Cenozoic

Butterworth, N. P., Müller, R. D., Quevedo, L., O’Connor, J. M., Hoernle, K., & Morra, G. (2014). Pacific Plate slab pull and intraplate deformation in the early Cenozoic. Solid Earth, 5(2). doi: 10.5194/sed-6-1-2014. Pacific Plate slab pull and intraplate deformation in the early Cenozoic

Geoscientific Model Development – A suite of early Eocene (~55 Ma) climate model boundary conditions

Herold_etal_2014_BIOME4

Herold, N., Buzan, J., Seton, M., Goldner, A., Green, J. A. M., Müller, R. D., Markwick, P., & Huber, M. (2014). A suite of early Eocene (~ 55 Ma) climate model boundary conditions. Geoscientific Model Development, 7(5), 2077-2090. doi: 10.5194/gmd-7-2077-2014.

A suite of early Eocene (~ 55 Ma) climate model boundary conditions

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Earth and Planetary Science Letters – Topographic assymetry of the South Atlantic from global models of mantle flow and lithospheric stretching

Flament, N., Gurnis, M., Williams, S., Seton, M., Skogseid, J., Heine, C., & Müller, R. D. (2014). Topographic asymmetry of the South Atlantic from global models of mantle flow and lithospheric stretching. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 387, 107-119. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2013.11.017. Topographic asymmetry of the South Atlantic from global models of mantle flow and lithospheric stretching … Read more…

Topographic asymmetry of the South Atlantic from global models of mantle flow and lithospheric stretching

Flament et al EPSL 2014 - FigureCitation
Flament, N., Gurnis, M., Williams, S., Seton, M., Skogseid, J., Heine, C., & Müller, R. D. (2014). Topographic asymmetry of the South Atlantic from global models of mantle flow and lithospheric stretching. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 387, 107-119. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2013.11.017.

Abstract
The relief of the South Atlantic is characterized by elevated passive continental margins along southern Africa and eastern Brazil, and by the bathymetric asymmetry of the southern oceanic basin where the western flank is much deeper than the eastern flank. We investigate the origin of these topographic features in the present and over time since the Jurassic with a model of global mantle flow and lithospheric deformation. The model progressively assimilates plate kinematics, plate boundaries and lithospheric age derived from global tectonic reconstructions with deforming plates, and predicts the evolution of mantle temperature, continental crustal thickness, long-wavelength dynamic topography, and isostatic topography. … Read more…

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Journal of Geodynamics – Geological, tomographic, kinematic and geodynamic constraints on the dynamics of sinking slabs

Butterworth, N. P., Talsma, A. S., Müller, R. D., Seton, M., Bunge, H. P., Schuberth, B. S. A., … & Heine, C. (2014). Geological, tomographic, kinematic and geodynamic constraints on the dynamics of sinking slabs. Journal of Geodynamics, 73, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.jog.2013.10.006. Geological, tomographic, kinematic and geodynamic constraints on the dynamics of sinking slabs Supplementary material

Solid Earth – Full-fit reconstruction of the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay

Hosseinpour, M., Müller, R. D., Williams, S. E., & Whittaker, J. M. (2013). Full-fit reconstruction of the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay. Solid Earth, 4(2), 461-479. doi :10.5194/se-4-461-2013. Full-fit reconstruction of the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay Supplementary material

The breakup of east Gondwana: assimilating constraints from Cretaceous ocean basins around India into a best-fit tectonic model, Gibbons et al. (2013)

Citation
Gibbons, A., Whittaker, J. and R. Dietmar Müller, (2013), The break up of East Gondwana: assimilating constraints from Cretaceous ocean basins around India into a best-fit tectonic model. Journal of Geophysical Research, 118, 1-15: doi:10.1002/jgrb.50079

East GondwanaSummary
Published models for the Cretaceous seafloor-spreading history of East Gondwana result in unlikely tectonic scenarios for at least one of the plate boundaries involved and/or violate particular constraints from at least one of the associated ocean basins. We link East Gondwana spreading corridors by integrating magnetic and gravity anomaly data from the Enderby Basin off East Antarctica within a regional plate kinematic framework to identify a conjugate series of east-west-trending magnetic anomalies, M4 to M0 (~126.7–120.4 Ma). … Read more…

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Seawater chemistry driven by supercontinent assembly, breakup and dispersal, Müller et al. (2013)

Muller etal Fig1 - Seawater Chemistry Driven by Supercontinental AssemblyCitation
Müller, R. D., Dutkiewicz, A., Seton, M. and Gaina, C. (2013). Seawater chemistry driven by supercontinent assembly, break-up and dispersal Geology. doi 10.1130/G34405.1.

Summary
Global oceans are known to have alternated between aragonite and calcite seas. These oscillations reflect changes in the Mg/Ca ratio of seawater, which control biomineralisation and the composition of marine carbonates and are thought to be caused by the time dependence of crustal accretion at mid-ocean ridge crests and associated high temperature mid-ocean ridge brine flux. Here we use global ocean basin reconstructions to demonstrate that these fluctuations are instead caused by the gradual growth and destruction of mid-ocean ridges and their relatively cool flanks during long-term tectonic cycles thus linking ocean chemistry to off-ridge low temperature hydrothermal flux. Early Jurassic aragonite seas were a consequence of supercontinent stability and minima in mid-ocean ridge length and basalt alteration. The break-up of Pangaea led to a gradual doubling in ridge length and a 50% increase in hydrothermal flux mainly through an enormous increase in ridge flank area, leading to enhanced alteration of basalt, lowered seawater Mg/Ca ratios and marine hypercalcification from 140 to 35 Ma. … Read more…

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A review of observations and models of dynamic topography

Citation
Flament, N., Gurnis, M., & Müller, R. D. (2013). A review of observations and models of dynamic topography. Lithosphere, 5(2), 189-210. doi: 10.1130/L245.1

Flament-et-al_fig1Summary
The topography of Earth is primarily controlled by lateral differences in the density structure of the crust and lithosphere. In addition to this isostatic topography, flow in the mantle induces deformation of its surface leading to dynamic topography. This transient deformation evolves over tens of millions of years, occurs at long wavelength, and is relatively small (<2 km) in amplitude. Here, we review the observational constraints and modeling approaches used to understand the amplitude, spatial pattern, and time dependence of dynamic topography. … Read more…

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Tectonophysics – The Moho: boundary above upper mantle peridotites or lower crustal eclogites? A global review and new interpretations for passive margins

Mjelde, R., Goncharov, A., & Müller, R. D. (2013). The Moho: boundary above upper mantle peridotites or lower crustal eclogites? A global review and new interpretations for passive margins. Tectonophysics, 609, 636-650. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2012.03.001. The Moho: boundary above upper mantle peridotites or lower crustal eclogites? A global review and new interpretations for passive margins

EarthByte welcomes Professor Sanzhong Li and PhD student Shan Yu

EarthByte would like to welcome Professor Sanzhong Li who is visiting for 2 months from the Ocean University of China. We also welcome Shan Yu, a PhD student at the Ocean University of China who will study at EarthByte for 1 year. She will be developing plate reconstructions of the Paleotethys in central China and … Read more…

Earth and Planetary Science Letters – Convergence of tectonic reconstructions and mantle convection models for significant fluctuations in seafloor spreading

Coltice, N., Seton, M., Rolf, T., Müller, R. D., & Tackley, P. J. (2013). Convergence of tectonic reconstructions and mantle convection models for significant fluctuations in seafloor spreading. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 383, 92-100. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.09.032. Convergence of tectonic reconstructions and mantle convection models for significant fluctuations in seafloor spreading