News

Here are all the latest EarthByte news posts. See News Archive for recent years.

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Rainfall and tectonic forcing lead to contrasting headwater slope evolutions

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Landscapes evolve through the coupled effects of tectonics and surface processes. Previous studies have shown that uplift rate changes generate upstream-migrating erosion waves, altering downstream slopes while upstream slopes remain constant until the wave arrives. However, the distinctive differences between landscape responses to uplift versus climatic changes, particularly rainfall rate changes, remain incompletely described. This … Read more…

Pacific and Atlantic Modes of Overturning in the Miocene Climatic Optimum

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During the Cenozoic Era, the ocean’s meridional overturning circulation (MOC) has alternated between North Pacific and North Atlantic sinking modes. The Miocene Climatic Optimum (17.0–14.7 Ma) is a key interval for reconstructing this history because there is partial and inconclusive evidence for both MOC modes during this period. Here, we use the GFDL CM2.1 coupled climate … Read more…

Thickness of an extensional plate-boundary shear zone in the mantle: Implications for tectonic controls on strain localization and transient strain rates

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This study shows that constant displacement rate conditions – imposed by plate tectonics – is the best approach to consider the evolution of extensional plate-boundary shear zones, as stresses vary during deformation. The Turon de Técouère massif of the French Pyrenees preserves a Cretaceous, magma-poor hyperextended plate margin within the lithospheric mantle. The massif exposes an extensional … Read more…

Strain controls the electrical conductivity distribution in the lithosphere

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Magnetotellurics (MT) utilize measurements of electromagnetic fields at Earth’s surface to image the electrical conductivity distribution at depths from a few meters to ∼200 km. MT is especially powerful for mapping mineralized fluid pathways, as it is sensitive to inter- connected minor conductive phases such as fluids, melts, or sulfides. However, conductivity anomalies documented by … Read more…

Predicting the preservation of buried ore deposits using deep-­ time landscape evolution modeling

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    Porphyry copper discoveries are declining despite rising demand to meet net-zero targets, highlighting the need for innovative exploration strategies. While many advances have focused on ore formation at depth, a major challenge remains in understanding how erosion and uplift over millions of years affect deposit preservation. These post-mineralisation processes determine whether porphyry systems … Read more…

Mid-Proterozoic expansion of passive margins and reduction in volcanic outgassing supported marine oxygenation and eukaryogenesis

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The mid-Proterozoic interval between 1800 and 800 Ma, commonly referred to as the “Boring Billion”, was marked by the emergence of eukaryotic cells from prokaryotic ancestors, a key step in the evolution of life. This period encompassed the assembly and dispersal of two consecutive supercontinents, Nuna and Rodinia, as well as the development of extensive … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Elnaz Heidari

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We are excited to invite you to the next seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series, featuring Elnaz Heidari, who is a PhD candidate in School of Geosciences, University of Sydney. Elnaz will be presenting on “Machine Learning Framework for Prospectivity Mapping of Porphyry Mineralisation in the Lachlan Fold Belt, Eastern Australia“. In this engaging talk, … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Mark Hoggard

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We are excited to invite you to the next seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series, featuring Mark Hoggard, who is a DECRA fellow in Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University. Mark will be presenting on “Australia’s lithospheric architecture and its influence on base metal mineralisation at Mt Isa“. In this engaging talk, he … Read more…

Indian Ocean carbonate compensation depth since the Late Oligocene

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The carbonate compensation depth (CCD), defined as the depth in the ocean where the supply rate of pelagic carbonate is balanced by its dissolution, provides an important parameter for estimating the amount of calcium carbonate-bound carbon that is stored in deep-sea sediments. The CCD is reasonably well-constrained across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; however, our … Read more…

SAnTex: A Python-based Library for Seismic Anisotropy Calculation

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Seismic anisotropy, the directional dependency of seismic wave velocities, is important for mapping the Earth’s structure and understanding geodynamic processes. Seismic anisotropy primarily stems from the development of mineral crystallographic preferred orientation (i.e. texture) during the plastic deformation of rocks. In-depth analysis of data from texture characterization techniques like Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) enables the … Read more…

Polar wander leads to large differences in past climate reconstructions

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The position of continents and oceans in geological time dictates the biogeographic dispersal of life, influences the preservation of mineral resources, and informs our understanding of Earth’s climate trajectory. Reconstructing past crustal locations requires a plate tectonic model that differs depending on whether the model uses a mantle reference frame, or a paleomagnetic reference frame, … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Caesar Rigoti

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We are excited to invite you to the next seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series, featuring Caesar Rigoti, who is a PhD candidate in the School of Geosciences, University of Sydney. Caesar will be presenting on “Plate-plume interaction driving microcontinent formation in the South Atlantic: Evidence from the Rio Grande Rise and Valdivia Bank“. In … Read more…

A High-resolution 3-D Shear Velocity Model for Cameroon using Ambient Noise Tomography: Constraints from the CPSO algorithm

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The Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) and other tectonic features in Cameroon remain enigmatic, prompting ongoing debates about their detailed crustal structure, composition and geodynamic evolution. To shed light on the structural complexities and the underlying crustal processes, we leverage the two-step ambient noise tomography method to obtain the 3-D shear wave velocity (Vs) and the P-to-S wave … Read more…

Heterogeneous Earth’s mantle drilled at an embryonic ocean

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Mantle processes control plate tectonics and exert an influence on biogeo- chemical cycles. However, the proportion of mantle sampled in-situ is minimal, as it is buried beneath igneous crust and sediments. Here we report the lithological characteristics of two mantle sections from an embryonic ocean drilled by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) in the … Read more…

Thermo‐mechanical rift evolution of large igneous province crust

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Numerical models, coupled with observational data, have proven crucial for addressing fundamental questions regarding extensional processes from continental rift to mid-ocean ridge (MOR). However, extensional processes at Large Igneous Provinces (LIP), a distinct type of lithosphere, have not been examined, leaving a thorough comprehension of rift mechanics unresolved. Here, we model the thermo-mechanical evolution for … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Kim Bente

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We are excited to invite you to the next seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series, featuring Kim Bente, who is a PhD candidate at the School of Computer Science, University of Sydney. Kim will be presenting on “Mass Conservation on Rails: Modelling Ice Flow Vector Fields with Probabilistic Physics-Informed Machine Learning“. In this engaging talk, … Read more…

Earth’s ‘boring billion years’ created the conditions for complex life

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Sydney University Media Release, 20 October 2025 Plate tectonics played central role shaping life-supporting oceans Between 1.8 and 0.8 billion years ago, Earth’s tectonic activity locked atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbonate minerals within the oceanic crust, paving the way for oxygen-rich seas and evolving life. Source: research paper A study led by researchers from the … Read more…

Breakthroughs powering tomorrow’s industries

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Making sense of an ever-changing world Professor Dietmar Müller leads the EarthByte Group, which builds a deep-time virtual Earth via geodata synthesis across space and time. The group aims to better understand the dynamic Earth, its paleogeography, and past climates. Its primary applied research focus is critical mineral exploration in the context of the energy transition. “Understanding the … Read more…

Automated Detection of Mineralization-Related Craton Structures Using Geophysical Data and Unsupervised Machine Learning

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Internal structures and discontinuities within cratons are economically significant due to their history of tectonic reactivation from varying intraplate stress fields, which open pathways for fluid flow and facilitate mineral deposition. However, the complex overprinting tectonic processes that make cratons prospective can also lead to uncertainty regarding their internal geometries. To address this, we take … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Ioan Sanislav

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We are excited to invite you to the next seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series, featuring Ioan Sanislav, who is an A/Prof of Economic Geology and the head of the Economic Geology Research Centre (EGRU) at James Cook University. Ioan will be presenting on “Archean gold mineralization in Tanzania – linking tectonics, magmatism and ore … Read more…

The Moving Mantle Beneath Hawaii: A New Look at an Old Bend

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The Hawaiian–Emperor Bend (HEB) has long been a geological Rosetta Stone for probing the link between plate tectonics and mantle dynamics. In a compelling new study in PNAS, Zhang and Hu (2025) revisit this classic problem with global mantle convection models constrained by plate reconstructions. They reveal that in addition to the widely accepted southward … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Fabrizio Magrini

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We are excited to invite you to the 17th seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series, featuring Fabrizio Magrini, who is a Research Fellow/Lecturer at RSES, Australian National University. Fabrizio will be presenting on “Bayesian Inference with Transport Maps“. In this engaging talk, he will show how advances in computational statistics and optimal transport improve MCMC … Read more…

Craton boundary detection from full-waveform tomography model reveals links to critical metal deposits

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Craton margins play a crucial role in mineral exploration as they host faults, fractures, and shear zones that facilitate hydrothermal fluid movement, transporting and depositing dissolved metals into valuable mineral deposits. We use the high-resolution full-waveform seismic inversion model REVEAL to extract horizontal shear wave velocity (VSH), vertical shear wave velocity (VSV), and isotropic P-wave … Read more…

Geocoastal research group and Geology-Geophysics seminar series: Laura Wallace

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We are excited to invite you to the 2025 GRG (Geocoastal Research Group) and Geology-Geophysics seminar, featuring Prof. Laura Wallace, who is a geophysicist and a professor at GEOMAR and the ANZIC’s first female Co-Chief Scientist of IODP. Laura will be presenting on “Unlocking the secrets of slow slip events with IODP drilling“. In this engaging talk, … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Lu Li

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We are excited to invite you to the 16th seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series, featuring Lu Li, who is a geophysicist and research scientist in CSIRO Mineral Resources. Lu will be presenting on “From sea-level to mineral systems, why do we care about lithosphere and how do we understand it with multiphysics?” In this … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Sascha Brune

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We are excited to invite you to the 15th seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series, featuring Prof. Sascha Brune, who leads the Geodynamic Modelling Section at GFZ and holds a professorship at the University of Potsdam. Sascha will be presenting on “Process Interactions at Plate Boundaries: Rifts, Mountains, Resources“. In this engaging talk, he will … Read more…

GPlately 2.0.0 Released

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GPlately

We are excited to announce the release of GPlately 2.0.0, a major update that brings significant improvements and new features, offering a significantly better programming experience and marking a major step forward in the evolution of the platform.  This release introduces a completely redesigned online documentation, providing users with a much more intuitive and enjoyable reading experience. … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Maria (Coti) Manassero

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We are excited to invite you to the 13th seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series, featuring Maria (Coti) Manassero, a post-doctoral research fellow in Geophysics, School of Natural Sciences (Physics), University of Tasmania. Coti will be presenting on “Thickness and ice loss potential of Denman Glacier, East Antarctica: Insight from magnetotelluric data and interdisciplinary studies“. … Read more…

Geology-Geophysics Seminar Series: Hamish Brown and Martina Monaco

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We are excited to invite you to the 12th seminar of the 2025 Geology and Geophysics Seminar Series. This session will feature two engaging talks. Our first speaker is Hamish Brown, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University. Hamish will be presenting on “Constraining mantle viscosity using dynamic … Read more…