The Subduction Reference System: unravelling the causes of long-term sea-level change
Summary
This project aims to compute mantle-driven surface dynamic topography from the Cretaceous to the present day to unravel the component of regional relative sea level change that is due to mantle convection.
Supervisor(s)
Associate Professor Dietmar Muller, Dr Maria Seton
Research Location
Program Type
N/A
Synopsis
In 1915, Alfred Wegener proposed that all continents might once have existed as a single supercontinent. If we compare Wegener's with a modern reconstruction, there are many similarities. So what remains to be discovered? A striking improvement since Wegener's time is that we are now able to position Pangaea at its proper latitude – however, the same does not hold for its longitude. Our inability to accurately reconstruct the longitudes of Earth's tectonic plates through time seriously hampers our ability to discover the connection between geological processes recorded at the surface of Earth, such as long-term sea-level fluctuations, and internal Earth dynamics. In this project, we will use a novel synthesis of geodynamic models with plate kinematics and deep Earth structure, as well as surface observations, to simulate mantle convection. Thus, we will use Earth's subduction history since the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea, as reflected in the accumulations of slab material in the mantle, to create a subduction reference system. In this system, we will use the positions of subducted plates as reference markers for modelling the time-dependent effect of mantle convection on the Earth's surface. We will compute mantle-driven surface dynamic topography to unravel which regional-relative sea-level changes have their origin in mantle convection, thus deviating from a global reference level.
Additional Information
The student will have the opportunity to work with one of the world’s leading research groups in global tectonics, earth dynamics and e-research. There may be an APA scholarship available for a high quality student as part of this project. Please contact the supervisor for further details. In addition, travel money to visit one of our collaborating partners may be applied for through the Edgeworth David Travelling Scholarship. This scholarship is offered to several students per year within the School of Geosciences.
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Keywords
subduction, plate tectonics, absolute plate motion, dynamic topography, mantle dynamics, geology, geodynamics, sea-level, geophysics
Opportunity ID
The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is: 683
Other opportunities with Associate Professor Dietmar Muller
- Breakup tectonics and volcanism of the Western Australian continental margin
- Time-dependent heat-flow, dynamic topography and mantle convection modeling in the Arctic borderlands
- Resolving the origin of the anomalous heatflow and subsidence history of Australia’s hydrocarbon yielding basins
- Planet-scale reorganizations of the plate–mantle system
- Relationship between subduction dynamics, plate motions and ore deposit formation during the last 140 million years
- Crustal growth mechanisms on the Cretaceous Andean Margin
Other opportunities with Dr Maria Seton