Dr Jo Whittaker, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Madsen Building (F09), Room 404
Phone: +61 2 9351 2467
Fax: +61 2 9351 3644
Email:

Research Interests

Jo is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Geosciences investigating Indian Ocean plate reconstructions and continental break-up as part of the “Gondwanaland extension, breakup and continental margin evolution” a StatoilHydro funded research project, and is also a part of the EarthByte Group.
Jo's research interests are in the field of plate tectonics, geophysics and geology specifically looking at the formation and evolution of continental margins and oceanic crust. She completed her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2008 on the tectonic consequences of mid-ocean ridge formation, evolution and subduction.

Selected Publications

Journals/Conference Proceedings (Refereed)

• Whittaker, J.M., R. D. Muller, and Gurnis M., (2010) Development of the Australian-Antarctic Depth Anomaly: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, doi:10.1029/2010GC003276
• Whittaker, J., Williams S., Kusznir, N., and Müller R.D. (2010) Restoring the continent-ocean boundary: constraints from lithospheric stretching grids and tectonic reconstructions: ASEG-PESA 21st international Geophysical Conference, Sydney, Australia, Short Research Paper 251.
• Campbell S.J., Mazur S., Whittaker J., Bouatmani R. and Fairhead J.G. 2010. A new plate tectonic model for the Arctic: a solution to the Nares Strait problem. NGF, Abstracts and Proceedings of the Geological Society of Norway, no. 2, p. 11.
• Whittaker, J.M. (2009) The hydrangeas of plate tectonics. Nature Geoscience, 2:246-247
• Whittaker, J.M., Müller, R.D., Roest, W.R., Wessel, P., and Smith, W.H.F. (2008). How supercontinents and superoceans affect seafloor roughness. Nature, 456:938-941.
• Whittaker, J.M., Müller, R.D., Leitchenkov, G., Stagg, H., Sdrolias, M., Gaina, C., and Goncharov, A. (2008) Response to comment on "Major Australian-Antarctic plate reorganization at Hawaiian-Emperor bend time": Science, v. 321, p. U23-U24.
• Whittaker, J.M, Müller, R.D. and Goncharov, A. (2008) Australian-Antarctic rifting, In: Blevin, J.E., Bradshaw, B.E. and Uruski, C. (Eds),Eastern Australasian Basins Symposium III, Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia, Special Publication, 271-274.
• Whittaker, J.M., Müller, R.D., Leitchenkov, G., Stagg, H., Sdrolias, M., Gaina, C., and Goncharov, A. (2007) Major Australian- Antarctic Plate Reorganisation at Hawaiian-Emperor Bend Time. Science, 318: 83 - 86.
• Whittaker, J.M., Müller, R.D., Sdrolias, M. and Heine, C. (2007) Sunda-Java trench kinematics, slab window formation and overriding plate deformation since the Cretaceous. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 255:445-457.
• Henrys SA, Wilson TJ, Whittaker JM, Fielding CR, Hall JM, Naish T. (2007). Tectonic History of mid-Miocene to present, southern Victoria Land Basin, inferred from seismic stratigraphy, in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. In: Cooper AK, Raymond C.R. et al., editors. Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World. Online Proceedings of the 10th ISAES: USGS Open-File Report 2007-1047, Short Research Paper 049
• Fielding, C.F., Whittaker, J., Henrys, S., Wilson, T., Naish, T.R., 2008. Seismic facies and stratigraphy of the Cenozoic succession in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: implications for tectonic, climatic and glacial history. Paleoclimatology, Paleogeography, Paleoecology 260(1-2): 8-29. (doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.08.023)
• Whittaker, J.M., and Müller, R.D., (2006) Seismic Stratigraphy of the Adare Trough Area, Antarctica. Marine Geology.230: 179-197.

Units Taught

• GEOS 2115/2915 – Oceans, Coasts & Climate Change
• SUCOGG Honours Course - Data Processing & Plotting using the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT)
• SUCOGG Honours Course - Advanced GMT Methods