Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous
Global sea level and the pattern of marine inundation on the Australian continent are inconsistent. We quantify this inconsistency and show that it is partly due to a long wavelength, anomalous, downward tilting of the continent to the northeast by 300 m since the Eocene. This downward tilting occur...
Published in: | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
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ftcaltechauth:oai:authors.library.caltech.edu:14454 2023-05-15T13:49:58+02:00 Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous DiCaprio, Lydia Gurnis, Michael Müller, R. Dietmar 2009-02-25 application/msword application/pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/ https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/2/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp1.doc https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/3/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp2.pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/4/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp3.pdf https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20090629-112818624 en eng Elsevier https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/2/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp1.doc https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/3/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp2.pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/4/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp3.pdf DiCaprio, Lydia and Gurnis, Michael and Müller, R. Dietmar (2009) Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 278 (3-4). pp. 175-185. ISSN 0012-821X. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.11.030. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20090629-112818624 <https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20090629-112818624> other Article PeerReviewed 2009 ftcaltechauth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2008.11.030 2021-11-11T18:42:23Z Global sea level and the pattern of marine inundation on the Australian continent are inconsistent. We quantify this inconsistency and show that it is partly due to a long wavelength, anomalous, downward tilting of the continent to the northeast by 300 m since the Eocene. This downward tilting occurred as Australia approached the subduction systems in South East Asia and is recorded by the progressive inundation of the northern margin of Australia. From the Oligocene to the Pliocene, the long wavelength trend of anomalous topography shows that the southern margin of Australia is characterized by relative subsidence. We quantify the anomalous topography of the Australian continent by computing the displacement needed to reconcile the interpreted pattern of marine incursion with a predicted topography in the presence of global sea level variations. On the southern margin, long wavelength subsidence was augmented by at least 250 m of shorter wavelength anomalous subsidence, consistent with the passage of the southern continental margin over a north–south elongated, 500 km wide, topographic anomaly approximately fixed with respect to the mantle. The present day reconstructed position of this depth anomaly is aligned with the Australian Antarctic Discordance and is consistent with the predicted passage of the Australian continent over a previously subducted slab. Both the long-wavelength continental tilting and smaller-scale paleo-topographic anomaly on the southern Australian margin may have been caused by subduction-generated dynamic topography. These new constraints on continental vertical motion are consistent with the hypothesis that mantle convection induced topography is of the same order of magnitude as global sea level change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) Antarctic Australian-Antarctic Discordance ENVELOPE(124.000,124.000,-49.000,-49.000) Tilting ENVELOPE(-54.065,-54.065,49.700,49.700) Earth and Planetary Science Letters 278 3-4 175 185 |
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Open Polar |
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Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftcaltechauth |
language |
English |
description |
Global sea level and the pattern of marine inundation on the Australian continent are inconsistent. We quantify this inconsistency and show that it is partly due to a long wavelength, anomalous, downward tilting of the continent to the northeast by 300 m since the Eocene. This downward tilting occurred as Australia approached the subduction systems in South East Asia and is recorded by the progressive inundation of the northern margin of Australia. From the Oligocene to the Pliocene, the long wavelength trend of anomalous topography shows that the southern margin of Australia is characterized by relative subsidence. We quantify the anomalous topography of the Australian continent by computing the displacement needed to reconcile the interpreted pattern of marine incursion with a predicted topography in the presence of global sea level variations. On the southern margin, long wavelength subsidence was augmented by at least 250 m of shorter wavelength anomalous subsidence, consistent with the passage of the southern continental margin over a north–south elongated, 500 km wide, topographic anomaly approximately fixed with respect to the mantle. The present day reconstructed position of this depth anomaly is aligned with the Australian Antarctic Discordance and is consistent with the predicted passage of the Australian continent over a previously subducted slab. Both the long-wavelength continental tilting and smaller-scale paleo-topographic anomaly on the southern Australian margin may have been caused by subduction-generated dynamic topography. These new constraints on continental vertical motion are consistent with the hypothesis that mantle convection induced topography is of the same order of magnitude as global sea level change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
DiCaprio, Lydia Gurnis, Michael Müller, R. Dietmar |
spellingShingle |
DiCaprio, Lydia Gurnis, Michael Müller, R. Dietmar Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous |
author_facet |
DiCaprio, Lydia Gurnis, Michael Müller, R. Dietmar |
author_sort |
DiCaprio, Lydia |
title |
Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous |
title_short |
Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous |
title_full |
Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous |
title_fullStr |
Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous |
title_full_unstemmed |
Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous |
title_sort |
long-wavelength tilting of the australian continent since the late cretaceous |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/ https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/2/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp1.doc https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/3/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp2.pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/4/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp3.pdf https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20090629-112818624 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(124.000,124.000,-49.000,-49.000) ENVELOPE(-54.065,-54.065,49.700,49.700) |
geographic |
Antarctic Australian-Antarctic Discordance Tilting |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Australian-Antarctic Discordance Tilting |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_relation |
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/2/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp1.doc https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/3/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp2.pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/14454/4/DiCaprio2009p1020Earth_Planet_Sc_Lett_supp3.pdf DiCaprio, Lydia and Gurnis, Michael and Müller, R. Dietmar (2009) Long-wavelength tilting of the Australian continent since the Late Cretaceous. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 278 (3-4). pp. 175-185. ISSN 0012-821X. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.11.030. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20090629-112818624 <https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20090629-112818624> |
op_rights |
other |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2008.11.030 |
container_title |
Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
container_volume |
278 |
container_issue |
3-4 |
container_start_page |
175 |
op_container_end_page |
185 |
_version_ |
1766252668425076736 |