Dr Maria Seton – Page 2

Subduction controls the distribution and fragmentation of Earth’s tectonic plates

13 October, 201716 June, 2016 by Carmen Braz

Author List: Claire Mallard, Nicolas Coltice, Maria Seton, Dietmar Müller and Paul Tackley Citation: Mallard, C., Coltice, N., Seton, M., Müller, R. D. & Tackley, P. J. (2016). Subduction controls the distribution and fragmentation of Earth’s tectonic plates. Nature, 535, 140-143. doi:10.1038/nature17992 Abstract: Volcanic hotspot tracks featuring linear progressions in the age of volcanism are typical surface expressions of plate … Read more…

Solving Earth’s giant jigsaw puzzle of tectonic plates

4 October, 201616 June, 2016 by Carmen Braz

plate-tesselation — Earth’s plate tesselation through time (150 Myr ago to present)

Plate tectonics drives earthquakes and volcanism, forms precious mineral deposits and controls the planet’s long-term carbon cycle. But why do we have just a few large plates, and many tiny plates? Does it matter? These questions have now been answered in a French-Swiss-Australian collaborative paper led by PhD student Claire Mallard at the Univ. Lyon, published on 15 June 2016 in the journal Nature. The paper includes Nicolas Coltice (Lyon), EarthByters Dietmar Müller and Maria Seton, and Paul Tackley (ETH).

Tectonic evolution of Western Tethys from Jurassic to present day: coupling geological and geophysical data with seismic tomography models

13 October, 201730 May, 2016 by Carmen Braz

Author List: Maral Hosseinpour, Simon Williams, Maria Seton, Nicholas Barnett-Moore and Dietmar Müller Citation: Hosseinpour, M., Williams, S., Seton, M., Barnett-Moore, N., and Müller, R.D. (2016). Tectonic evolution of Western Tethys from Jurassic to present day: coupling geological and geophysical data with seismic tomography models. International Geology Review 58 (13): 1616–1645. doi:10.1080/00206814.2016.1183146 Abstract: The geodynamic evolution of the … Read more…

PLOS ONE – The GPlates Portal: Cloud-Based Interactive 3D Visualization of Global Geophysical and Geological Data in a Web Browser

13 October, 201721 March, 2016 by Carmen Braz

Author List: Dietmar Müller, Xiaodong Qin, David Sandwell, Adriana Dutkiewicz, Simon Williams, Nicolas Flament, Stefan Maus, Maria Seton Citation: Müller, R. D., Qin, X., Sandwell, D. T., Dutkiewicz, A., Williams, S. E., Flament, N., Maus, S., & Seton, M. (2016). The GPlates Portal: Cloud-Based Interactive 3D Visualization of Global Geophysical and Geological Data in a Web Browser. … Read more…

Earth-Science Reviews – The Late Cretaceous to recent tectonic history of the Pacific Ocean basin

21 March, 2016 by Carmen Braz

Wright, N. M., Seton, M., Williams, S. E., & Müller, R. D. (2016). The Late Cretaceous to recent tectonic history of the Pacific Ocean basin. Earth-Science Reviews, 154, 138–173. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.11.015 The Late Cretaceous to recent tectonic history of the Pacific Ocean basin

GPlates Portal International Media Coverage

14 March, 201611 March, 2016 by Carmen Braz

The recent article on the GPlates Portal published in PLOS ONE by Prof Dietmar Müller, Xiaodong Qin, Prof David Sandwell, Dr Adriana Dutkiewicz, Dr Simon Williams, Dr Nicolas Flament, Dr Stefan Maus, and Dr Maria Seton, has received significant international media attention over the past week, featuring in articles from Australia, UK, US, India, and UAE!

See the list of online media below, and check out the interactive globes yourself!

Ocean basin evolution and global-scale plate reorganization events since Pangea breakup

5 April, 20203 November, 2015 by kara

Citation
Müller R.D., Seton, M., Zahirovic, S., Williams, S.E., Matthews, K.J., Wright, N.M., Shephard, G.E., Maloney, K.T., Barnett-Moore, N., Hosseinpour, M., Bower, D.J., Cannon, J., 2016. Ocean basin evolution and global-scale plate reorganization events since Pangea breakup, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Vol 44, 107-138. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-earth-060115-012211.

Abstract
We present a revised global plate motion model with continuously closing plate boundaries ranging from the Triassic at 230 Ma to the present day, assess differences between alternative absolute plate motion models, and review global tectonic events. Relatively high mean absolute plate motion rates around 9–10 cm yr-1 between 140 and 120 Ma may be related to transient plate motion accelerations driven by the successive emplacement of a sequence of large igneous provinces during that time. … Read more…

Earth’s climate throughout the Phanerozoic

30 November, 201526 July, 2015 by Michael Chin

Project Summary
EarthByte is involved in a series of projects aimed at understanding and modeling Earth’s climate throughout the Phanerozoic. Some of these projects include:

Future Fellowship of Maria Seton on “Oceanic gateways: a primary control on global climate change?”
Basin GENESIS Hub activities, related to the effect of the mantle, crustal deformation, erosion and sedimentary processes on sedimentary basins
ATOM – a coupled atmospheric-ocean circulation code jointly developed by Prof. Roger Grundmann and EarthByte.

EarthByte’s expertise in tectonics, geodynamics and surface process modeling is enhanced by close collaborations with leading palaeoclimate modellers and geochemical oceanographers. … Read more…

Earth's climate throughout the Phanerozoic

26 July, 2015 by Ruken

Project Summary
EarthByte is involved in a series of projects aimed at understanding and modeling Earth’s climate throughout the Phanerozoic. Some of these projects include:

Future Fellowship of Maria Seton on “Oceanic gateways: a primary control on global climate change?”
Basin GENESIS Hub activities, related to the effect of the mantle, crustal deformation, erosion and sedimentary processes on sedimentary basins
ATOM – a coupled atmospheric-ocean circulation code jointly developed by Prof. Roger Grundmann and EarthByte.

EarthByte’s plate tectonic animation added to NOAA’s SOS database

26 July, 201525 July, 2015 by Michael Chin

An EarthByte plate tectonic animation has recently been added to NOAA’s Science on a Sphere database. NOAA produces large interactive 3D spherical projection systems that are installed at museums, universities, schools and other institutes across the world (see Science On a Sphere map locations). The EarthByte animation is from the recent Gibbons et al. (2015) … Read more…

EarthByte's plate tectonic animation added to NOAA's SOS database

25 July, 2015 by Ruken

Encyclopaedia of Marine Geosciences – Plate Motion

16 December, 20157 July, 2015 by Michael Chin

Müller, R. D., & Seton, M. (2014). Plate Motion. In J. Harff, M. Meschede, S. Petersen & J. Thiede (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences (pp. 1-10): Springer Netherlands. Plate Motion

Encyclopaedia of Marine Geosciences – Paleophysiography of Ocean Basins

16 December, 20157 July, 2015 by Michael Chin

Müller, R. D., & Seton, M. (2015). Paleophysiography of Ocean Basins. In J. Harff, M. Meschede, S. Petersen & J. Thiede (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences (pp. 1-15): Springer Netherlands. Paleophysiography of Ocean Basins

Plate reconstruction with ocean basin paleo-ages

9 August, 201524 May, 2015 by Michael Chin

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

9 August, 201524 May, 2015 by Michael Chin

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

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

15 April, 202117 May, 2015 by Michael Chin

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

3 July, 201917 May, 2015 by Michael Chin

Citation
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…

GPlates course taught at EGU conference in Vienna

6 September, 201513 April, 2015 by kara

Prof Dietmar Müller, Dr Maria Seton and Dr Grace Shephard taught a GPlates course today at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna. The course was entitled ‘GPlates – make your own plate-tectonic reconstructions’.

Lord Howe Rise IODP workshop held at University of Sydney

26 July, 201510 April, 2015 by Michael Chin

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…

Tectonic speed limits from plate kinematic reconstructions

25 October, 20151 April, 2015 by Michael Chin

Citation
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…

ScienceNews features an article on Pacific plate motions paper

22 October, 201531 March, 2015 by Michael Chin

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

9 August, 201526 March, 2015 by Michael Chin

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…

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

16 December, 201524 March, 2015 by Michael Chin

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

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

16 December, 201520 March, 2015 by Michael Chin

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

Research voyage on RV Investigator funded for 2016

17 October, 201517 March, 2015 by Michael Chin

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…

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

4 February, 201915 March, 2015 by Michael Chin

We 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…

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

16 December, 20157 March, 2015 by Michael Chin

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

Carmen Braz undertakes a 6 week summer scholarship

15 March, 20155 January, 2015 by Michael Chin

Carmen Braz is undertaking a 6 week summer scholarship with Maria Seton and Dietmar Müller. She will be implementing a new plate tectonic model for the Caribbean.

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

16 December, 201525 November, 2014 by Michael Chin

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…

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

4 February, 20199 October, 2014 by Michael Chin

Citation
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…