EarthByte logo Dr Christian Heine
School of Geosciences,
The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

Now at StatoilHydro Global Exploration Technology, Oslo, Norway
e-mail: c.heine<at>usyd.edu.au
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Tectonophysics paper in press

Our Tectonophysics paper "Integrating deep Earth dynamics in paleogeographic reconstructions of Australia" is in press and available through Sciencedirect under the following DOI: 10.1016/j.tecto.2009.08.028.
Pre-print versions of the paper are available on request.

Tectonophysics paper accepted for publication

Our paper "Integrating deep Earth dynamics in paleogeographic reconstructions of Australia" authored by Heine, Steinberger, Müller and DiCaprio was accepted for publication in a Tectonophysics special volume edited by Nick Rawlinson and Wouter Schellart. There are two animations accompanying the paper which can readily be accessed:

  1. Animation of dynamic topography, using the s20rts mantle tomography model and modified backward advection. View here (7.5 MB).
  2. The evolution of Australia's paleogeography during the past 70 Ma, integrating dynamic topography, eustatic sea level changes and sedimentation. View here (5 MB).

Both animations require Apple's QuickTime Player

Abstract
It is well documented that the Cenozoic progressive flooding of Australia, contemporaneous with a eustatic sea level fall, requires a downward tilting of the Australian Plate towards the SE Asian subduction system. Previously, this large-scale, mantle-convection driven dynamic topography effect has been approximated by computing the time-dependent vertical shifts and tilts of a plane, but the observed subsidence and uplift anomalies indicate a more complex interplay between time-dependent mantle convection and plate motion. We combine plate kinematics with a global mantle backward-advection model based on shear-wave mantle tomography, paleogeographic data, eustatic sea level estimates and basin stratigraphy to reconstruct the Australian flooding history for the last 70 Myrs on a continental scale. We compute time-dependent dynamic surface topography and continental inundation of a digital elevation model adjusted for sediment accumulation. Our model reveals two evolving dynamic topography lows, over which the Australian plate has progressively moved. We interpret the southern low to be caused by sinking slab material with an origin along the eastern Gondwana subduction zone in the Cretaceous, whereas the northern low, which first straddles northern Australia in the Oligocene, is mainly attributable to material subducted north and northeast of Australia. Our model accounts for the Paleogene exposure of the Gulf of Carpentaria region at a time when sea level was much higher than today, and explains anomalous Late Tertiary subsidence on Australia's northern, western and southern margins. The resolution of our model, which excludes short-wavelength mantle density anomalies and is restricted to depths larger than 200 km, is not sufficient to model the two well recorded episodes of major transgressions in South Australia in the Eocene and Miocene. However, the overall, long-wavelength spatio-temporal pattern of Australia's inundation record is well captured by combining our modelled dynamic topography with a recent eustatic sea level curve. We suggest that the apparent Late Cenozoic northward tilting of Australia was a stepwise function of South Australia first moving away northwards from the Gondwana subduction-related dynamic topography low in the Oligocene, now found under the Australian-Antarctic Discordance, followed by a drawing down of northern Australia as it overrode a slab burial ground now underlying much of the northern half of Australia, starting in the Miocene. Our model suggests that today's geography of Australia is strongly dependent on mantle forces. Without mantle convection, which draws Australia down by up to 300 m, nearly all of Australia's continental shelves would be exposed. We conclude that dissecting the interplay between eustasy and mantle-driven dynamic topography is critical for understanding hinterland uplift, basin subsidence, the formation and destruction of shallow epeiric seas and their facies distribution, but also for the evolution of petroleum systems.

Paper in Geology

Our paper entitled ''Mid-Cretaceous seafloor spreading pulse: Fact or fiction?'', lead by Maria Seton was published in Geology this week.
Here's the reference.

Correction of Fig. 8, well locations - Heine & Müller paper in Aust. J. Earth Sci, 2005

Akio Sakai pointed me to an error in the well location plot of Fig. 8 of my 2005 paper in the Aust. J. Earth Sci.. The location plot for 4 backstripping wells shows the wrong geographic locations for the Taltarni-1, Longleat-1 and Yampi-1 wells. This map shows the correct locations, with the ones used in the AJES paper indicated in red. However, only the locations on the map are wrong, the backstripping data for the individual wells are correct.

Apologies for the mistake!

PEPI Paper in press

Our PEPI paper 'Subsidence in intracontinental basins due to dynamic topography' (Heine, Müller, Steinberger, Torsvik) is in press and available at 10.1016/j.pepi.2008.05.008.

Paper in PEPI accepted

Our paper in Phys. Earth Planet. Int. titled 'Subsidence in intracontinental basins due to dynamic topography' (Heine, Müller, Steinberger and Torsvik) has been accepted and is available online through the following doi: 10.1016/j.pepi.2008.05.008.

Science paper published

Our paper 'Long-Term Sea-Level Fluctuations Driven by Ocean Basin Dynamics' is published in Science, Friday Mar 07th. Go to the EarthByte webpage for downloads and supplementary data. Here is the direct link to the paper on the Science website.

Stillwell Award 2006

Our paper on the Kenn Plateau in the northern Tasman Sea received the Stillwell Award 2006 of the Geological Society of Australia for the best paper:

N. F. Exon, P. J. Hill, Y. Lafoy, C. Heine and G. Bernardel: Kenn Plateau off northeast Australia: a continental fragment in the southwest Pacific jigsaw. 53, 541­564.
doi: 10.1080/08120090600632300

Kenn Plateau Paper is published

The Kenn Plateau Paper from R/V Southern Surveyor Cruise SS04/05 has been published in the Australian J. Earth Sci. A copy of the PDF is available for download on my Publications page

AJES paper PDF online!

My paper on the evolution of the NW Shelf of Australia is available for download on the Publications page.

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