Articles | Volume 13, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1127-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-1127-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
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07 Jul 2022
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 07 Jul 2022
| 07 Jul 2022
A tectonic-rules-based mantle reference frame since 1 billion years ago – implications for supercontinent cycles and plate–mantle system evolution
R. Dietmar Müller
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW
2006, Australia
Invited contribution by R. Dietmar Müller, recipient of the EGU Stephan Mueller Medal 2021.
Nicolas Flament
GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
John Cannon
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW
2006, Australia
Michael G. Tetley
University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of
Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758, USA
Simon E. Williams
Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an, 710069, China and
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006,
Australia
Xianzhi Cao
Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System;
Key Lab of Submarine Geosciences and Prospecting Techniques, MOE and College
of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
Ömer F. Bodur
GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Sabin Zahirovic
EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW
2006, Australia
Andrew Merdith
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
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Revised manuscript not accepted
Sascha Brune, Simon E. Williams, and R. Dietmar Müller
Solid Earth, 9, 1187–1206, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1187-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-9-1187-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Fragmentation of continents often involves obliquely rifting segments that feature a complex three-dimensional structural evolution. Here we show that more than ~ 70 % of Earth’s rifted margins exceeded an obliquity of 20° demonstrating that oblique rifting should be considered the rule, not the exception. This highlights the importance of three-dimensional approaches in modelling, surveying, and interpretation of those rift segments where oblique rifting is the dominant mode of deformation.
Robert McKay, Neville Exon, Dietmar Müller, Karsten Gohl, Michael Gurnis, Amelia Shevenell, Stuart Henrys, Fumio Inagaki, Dhananjai Pandey, Jessica Whiteside, Tina van de Flierdt, Tim Naish, Verena Heuer, Yuki Morono, Millard Coffin, Marguerite Godard, Laura Wallace, Shuichi Kodaira, Peter Bijl, Julien Collot, Gerald Dickens, Brandon Dugan, Ann G. Dunlea, Ron Hackney, Minoru Ikehara, Martin Jutzeler, Lisa McNeill, Sushant Naik, Taryn Noble, Bradley Opdyke, Ingo Pecher, Lowell Stott, Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben, Yatheesh Vadakkeykath, and Ulrich G. Wortmann
Sci. Dril., 24, 61–70, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-24-61-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-24-61-2018, 2018
Jodie Pall, Sabin Zahirovic, Sebastiano Doss, Rakib Hassan, Kara J. Matthews, John Cannon, Michael Gurnis, Louis Moresi, Adrian Lenardic, and R. Dietmar Müller
Clim. Past, 14, 857–870, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-857-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-857-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Subduction zones intersecting buried carbonate platforms liberate significant atmospheric CO2 and have the potential to influence global climate. We model the spatio-temporal distribution of carbonate platform accumulation within a plate tectonic framework and use wavelet analysis to analyse linked behaviour between atmospheric CO2 and carbonate-intersecting subduction zone (CISZ) lengths since the Devonian. We find that increasing CISZ lengths likely contributed to a warmer Palaeogene climate.
Wenchao Cao, Sabin Zahirovic, Nicolas Flament, Simon Williams, Jan Golonka, and R. Dietmar Müller
Biogeosciences, 14, 5425–5439, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5425-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5425-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We present a workflow to link paleogeographic maps to alternative plate tectonic models, alleviating the problem that published global paleogeographic maps are generally presented as static maps and tied to a particular plate model. We further develop an approach to improve paleogeography using paleobiology. The resulting paleogeographies are consistent with proxies of eustatic sea level change since ~400 Myr ago. We make the digital global paleogeographic maps available as an open resource.
Michael Rubey, Sascha Brune, Christian Heine, D. Rhodri Davies, Simon E. Williams, and R. Dietmar Müller
Solid Earth, 8, 899–919, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-899-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-899-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Earth's surface is constantly warped up and down by the convecting mantle. Here we derive geodynamic rules for this so-called
dynamic topographyby employing high-resolution numerical models of global mantle convection. We define four types of dynamic topography history that are primarily controlled by the ever-changing pattern of Earth's subduction zones. Our models provide a predictive quantitative framework linking mantle convection with plate tectonics and sedimentary basin evolution.
Nicholas Barnett-Moore, Rakib Hassan, Nicolas Flament, and Dietmar Müller
Solid Earth, 8, 235–254, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-235-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-235-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We use 3D mantle flow models to investigate the evolution of the Iceland plume in the North Atlantic. Results show that over the last ~ 100 Myr a remarkably stable pattern of flow in the lowermost mantle beneath the region resulted in the formation of a plume nucleation site. At the surface, a model plume compared to published observables indicates that its large plume head, ~ 2500 km in diameter, arriving beneath eastern Greenland in the Palaeocene, can account for the volcanic record and uplift.
N. Herold, J. Buzan, M. Seton, A. Goldner, J. A. M. Green, R. D. Müller, P. Markwick, and M. Huber
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 2077–2090, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2077-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2077-2014, 2014
J. Cannon, E. Lau, and R. D. Müller
Solid Earth, 5, 741–755, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-741-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-741-2014, 2014
S. Zahirovic, M. Seton, and R. D. Müller
Solid Earth, 5, 227–273, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-227-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-227-2014, 2014
M. Hosseinpour, R. D. Müller, S. E. Williams, and J. M. Whittaker
Solid Earth, 4, 461–479, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-4-461-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-4-461-2013, 2013
C. Heine, J. Zoethout, and R. D. Müller
Solid Earth, 4, 215–253, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-4-215-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-4-215-2013, 2013
N. Wright, S. Zahirovic, R. D. Müller, and M. Seton
Biogeosciences, 10, 1529–1541, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-1529-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-1529-2013, 2013
R. D. Müller and T. C. W. Landgrebe
Solid Earth, 3, 447–465, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-3-447-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-3-447-2012, 2012
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Executive editor
This manuscript describes the oldest model of the Earth's plate mantle system (back to 1000 million years ago), which allows visualising the "beating heart" of the Earth through time, across two supercontinent cycles. The model not only appeals to the geodynamic fascination, but would also enable spatio-temporal data analysis to discover past geodynamic environments which could for example host critical mineral deposits. An accompanying animation visualises the history of subduction and deep mantle upwellings with reconstructed continents overlain.
This manuscript describes the oldest model of the Earth's plate mantle system (back to 1000...
Short summary
We have built a community model for the evolution of the Earth's plate–mantle system. Created with open-source software and an open-access plate model, it covers the last billion years, including the formation, breakup, and dispersal of two supercontinents, as well as the creation and destruction of numerous ocean basins. The model allows us to
seeinto the Earth in 4D and helps us unravel the connections between surface tectonics and the
beating heartof the Earth, its convecting mantle.
We have built a community model for the evolution of the Earth's plate–mantle system. Created...
