Workshop on “Bayeslands: Bayesian inference for Badlands”

Overview: In recent years, the Bayesian inference has become a popular methodology for the estimation and uncertainty quantification of parameters in geological and geophysical forward models via the posterior distribution. Badlands is a basin and landscape evolution model for simulating topography development at various space and time scales. This workshop will present  BayesLands which provides … Read more…

EarthByte Group develops machine learning recipe to find copper-gold deposits along the Andes

In a paper just published in the journal Tectonics, EarthByter and Natural Sciences, University of Sydney alumnus Nathaniel Butterworth and colleagues from the School of Geosciences, University of Sydney and Data61/CSIRO have developed a spatio-temporal machine learning recipe to identify subduction zone tectonic environments in which porphyry copper-gold deposits tend to form. The new approach could pave the way for future mineral discoveries.

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Abrupt plate accelerations shape rifted continental margins

Author List: Sascha Brune, Simon Williams, Nathaniel Butterworth and Dietmar Müller. Citation: Brune, S., Williams, S.E, Butterworth, N. P., and Müller, R.D. (2016). Abrupt plate accelerations shape rifted continental margins. Nature, 1–4. doi:10.1038/nature18319 Abstract: Rifted margins are formed by persistent stretching of continental lithosphere until breakup is achieved. It is well known that strain-rate-dependent processes control rift evolution, yet quantified extension … Read more…

The pains and strains of a continental breakup in the media

West_Australian_margin.jpg
View of Australia’s western continental margin, looking eastwards from the Indian Ocean.

Congratulations to Dr Sascha Brune, Dr Simon Williams, Dr Nathan Butterworth, and Prof Dietmar Müller on their paper published in Nature earlier this week. The paper,  Abrupt plate accelerations shape rifted continental marginshas been picked up by the media across the globe.

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The pains and strains of a continental breakup

Every now and then in Earth’s history, a pair of continents draws close enough to form one. There comes a time, however, when they must inevitably part ways. Now scientists at Australia’s EarthByte research group, in collaboration with the German Research Centre for Geosciences, have revealed the underlying mechanics of a continental breakup when this … Read more…

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

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 Reviews – Absolute plate motions since 130 ma constrained by subduction zone kinematics

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

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

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…

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

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…

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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/se-5-757-2014. Pacific Plate slab pull and intraplate deformation in the early Cenozoic

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

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

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

Computational Mechanics – Oblique mid ocean ridge subduction modelling with the parallel fast multipole boundary element method

Quevedo, L., Hansra, B., Morra, G., Butterworth, N., & Müller, R. D. (2013). Oblique mid ocean ridge subduction modelling with the parallel fast multipole boundary element method. Computational Mechanics, 51(4), 455-463. DOI 10.1007/s00466-012-0751-5. Oblique mid ocean ridge subduction modelling with the parallel fast multipole boundary element method

Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems – Influence of overriding plate geometry and rheology on subduction

Butterworth, N. P., Quevedo, L., Morra, G., & Müller, R. D. (2012). Influence of overriding plate geometry and rheology on subduction. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 13(6). doi:10.1029/2011GC003968. Download the paper – pdf

EarthByte to attend AGU 2011

EarthByte group members Dietmar Müller, Adriana Dutkiewicz, Nicolas Flament, Leonardo Quevedo, Maria Seton, Simon Williams, Nathaniel Butterworth, Kayla Maloney and Kara Matthews are attending the AGU Fall Meeting 2011 in San Francisco, USA from 5-9 December, 2011. Click here for more details about the AGU Fall Meeting

Pyrites of the Caribbean win soccer comp

Great news! The Pyrites of the Caribbean won the Sydney Uni Social Lunchtime mixed soccer comp!!! The semi-final was 6-5 with the Pyrites beating the undefeated team “The Pretenders”, and the final game score was 1-1 and went to golden goal. Nathan scored the winning goal with one minute to spare! Woo! Well done to … Read more…