Full description
This data collection is associated with the publication: Müller, R. D., Dutkiewicz, A., Seton, M., & Gaina, C. (2013). Seawater chemistry driven by supercontinent assembly, breakup, and dispersal. Geology, 41(8), 907-910. doi: 10.1130/g34405.1
Publication Abstract
Global oceans are known to have alternated between aragonite and calcite seas. These oscillations reflect changes in the Mg/Ca ratio of seawater, which control biomineralisation and the composition of marine carbonates and are thought to be caused by the time dependence of crustal accretion at mid-ocean ridge crests and associated high temperature mid-ocean ridge brine flux. Here we use global ocean basin reconstructions to demonstrate that these fluctuations are instead caused by the gradual growth and destruction of mid-ocean ridges and their relatively cool flanks during long-term tectonic cycles thus linking ocean chemistry to off-ridge low temperature hydrothermal flux. Early Jurassic aragonite seas were a consequence of supercontinent stability and minima in mid-ocean ridge length and basalt alteration. The break-up of Pangaea led to a gradual doubling in ridge length and a 50% increase in hydrothermal flux mainly through an enormous increase in ridge flank area, leading to enhanced alteration of basalt, lowered seawater Mg/Ca ratios and marine hypercalcification from 140 to 35 Ma. A return to aragonite seas was driven by pronounced continent dispersal, leading to progressive subduction of ridges and their flanks along the Pacific rim.
Authors and Institutions
R. Dietmar Müller - EarthByte Research Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Australia. ORCID: 0000-0002-3334-5764
Adriana Dutkiewicz - EarthByte Research Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, Australia
Carmen Gaina - Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo, Norway
Overview of Resources Contained
This collection contains global data grids of the age of the oceanic crust, the temperature of the seafloor basement, oceanic crustal heat flow, residual heat flow, and seafloor hydrothermal fluid flux. Data are provided from present day back to 200 Ma, at intervals of 5 million years.
List of Resources
Note: For details on the files included in this data collection, see “Description_of_Resources.txt”.
Note: For information on file formats and what programs to use to interact with various file formats, see “File_Formats_and_Recommended_Programs.txt”.
- Age of the oceanic crust (.nc, .txt, .kmz, .tif, .jpg, 1.22 GB)
- Temperature of seafloor basement (.nc, .txt, .kmz, .tif, .jpg, 1.21 GB)
- Oceanic crustal heat flow (.nc, .txt, .kmz, .tif, .jpg, 1.22 GB)
- Residual oceanic crustal heat flow (.nc, .txt, .kmz, .tif, .jpg, 1.21 GB)
- Seafloor hydrothermal fluid flux (.nc, .txt, .kmz, .tif, .jpg, 1.21 GB)
For more information on this data collection, and links to other datasets from the EarthByte Research Group please visit EarthByte
For more information about using GPlates, including tutorials and a user manual please visit GPlates or EarthByte
Data time period:
Jurassic to present day (200–0 Ma)
Spatial Coverage And Location
text: Global
User Contributed Tags
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- DOI : 10.4227/11/5587A83D726DB
