About Associate Professor Dietmar Muller
Associate Professor Dietmar Müller’s research has focused on understanding Earth processes by merging conventional geological and geophysical data with advanced kinematic and dynamic models.
Associate Professor Dietmar Müller is an earth scientist with interests in marine geophysics, plate motions, geodynamics, continental margin tectonics, petroleum exploration and seafloor imaging.
Associate Professor Dietmar Müller received his PhD from Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 1993 and was appointed lecturer in marine geophysics at the University of Sydney in 1994. In 2002, he became the first Director of the University of Sydney Institute of Marine Science (USIMS), a position he held until 2005. He now leads the EarthByte group, an international e-research group aimed at implementing interoperability of plate tectonic data and geodynamic computing services for applied and fundamental research purposes. The EarthByte Group is one of the world’s leading research groups in global tectonics, earth dynamics and e-research.
Associate Professor Dietmar Müller’s research has focused on understanding Earth processes by merging conventional geological and geophysical data with advanced kinematic and dynamic models. He pioneered the first global synthesis of ship magnetic and satellite gravity data and constructed a complete digital grid and map of geological age of the ocean basins. He recently published a ground-breaking Science article on how long-term sea level variations have been driven by changing ocean basin depths and volumes. With several key collaborators, Associate Professor Dietmar Müller published several landmark kinematic and geodynamic models of the Australia and Antarctic region. The first model (Science, 1998) revealed that the Cretaceous sinking of eastern Australia was caused by a second tectonic plate being drawn beneath the Australian plate. Another model showed that Antarctica broke into two continents 50 million years ago (Nature, 2000), associated with a planet-scale reorganisation of the plate-mantle system (Science, 2007). Another research highlight includes the modeling of the geological evolution of Australia’s continental stresses, which is now being used by several exploration companies.
Associate Professor Dietmar Müller was named a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2006 and received the Carey Medal by the Geological Society of Australia in 2004. In 2000, he was awarded the Fresh Science prize by the British Council and “ScienceNOW!”.
Selected publications
- Müller, R.D., Sdrolias, M., Gaina, C., Steinberger, B. and Heine, C., 2008, Long-Term Sea-Level Fluctuations Driven by Ocean Basin Dynamics, Science, 319, 1357-1362, DOI: 10.1126/science.115154.
- Müller, R.D., Sdrolias, M., Gaina, C. and Roest, W., 2008, Age, spreading rates and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 9, Q04006, doi:10.1029/2007GC001743.
- Whittaker, J., Müller, R.D., Leitchenkov, G., Stagg, H., Sdrolias, M., Gaina, C. and Goncharov, A., 2007, Major Australian-Antarctica Plate Reorganization at Hawaiian-Emperor Bend Time, Science, 318, 83-86, doi:10.1126/science.1143769.
- Müller, R.D., Goncharov, A. and Kritski, A., 2005, Geophysical evaluation of the enigmatic Bedout basement high, offshore northwestern Australia,Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 237, 264-284.
- Müller, R.D., Gaina, C, Roest, W.R. and Lundbek Hansen, D., 2001, A recipe for microcontinent formation, Geology, 29, 203-206.
- Müller, R.D., Lim, V., and Isern, A., 2000, Late Tertiary tectonic subsidence of the Queensland Plateau: response to dynamic topography? Marine Geology, 337-352.
- Müller, R.D., Roest, W.R., and Royer, J.-Y., 1998, Asymmetric seafloor spreading expresses ridge-plume interactions, Nature, 396, 455-459.
- Gurnis, M., Müller, R.D., and Moresi, L., 1998, Dynamics of Cretaceous to the Present Vertical Motion of Australia and the Origin of the Aus.-Antarctic Discordance, Science, 279, 1499-1504.
- Müller, R.D., Roest, W.R., Royer, J.-Y., Gahagan, L.M., and Sclater, J.G., 1997, Digital isochrons of the world's ocean floor, Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 3211-3214.
- Müller, R.D., Royer, J.-Y. and Lawver, L.A., 1993, Revised Plate Motions Relative to the Hotspots from Combined Atlantic and Indian Ocean Hotspot Tracks, Geology, 21, 275-278.