The GIS interface of GPlates is cumbersome for spatio -temporal data analysis PyGPlates is an open-source Python library to visualise and edit plate tectonic reconstructions created using GPlates . The Python API affords a greater level of flexibility than GPlates to interrogate plate reconstructions and integrate with other Python work- flows. https:// www.gplates.org /docs/ pygplates / Low-level detail of pyGPlates is challenging for new users to Python Installation is not so straightforward GPlately was created to accelerate spatio -temporal data analysis within a simplified Python interface. This object-oriented package enables: Reconstruction of data through deep geologic time (points, lines, polygons, and rasters ) Interrogation of plate kinematic information (plate velocities, rates of subduction and spreading) Rapid comparison between multiple plate models Plotting of reconstructed output data on maps. All tools are designed to be parallel-safe to accelerate spatio -temporal analysis over multiple CPU processors. https:// github.com / GPlates / gplately
OVERVIEW OF INTRAPLATE VOLCANISM Glass House Mountains, QLD Last Eruption: 24 million years ago
Mantle plumes are buoyant upwellings rising from the Earth’s core-mantle boundary to its surface, generating hotspot chains that track the direction of plate motion. Eastern Australia contains three contemporaneous volcanic chains (1 onshore, 2 offshore) that have long been held to be formed by three separate plumes, however, this fails to explain their geochemical similarity and close spacing. Surrounding these plume-related volcanoes are hundreds of smaller volcanic edifices which exhibit no correlation with plate motion. Armed with numerical models of mantle convection, plate reconstructions, seismic tomography, and geochemistry of eruption products, we aim untangle the complex history of volcanism in eastern Australia and offshore. In this talk, I will discuss how plume-slab interaction can lead to plume branching, potentially forming parallel hotspot chains, and the influence of slab flux on driving non-age progressive volcanism.
Did you know there are hundreds of volcanoes in our backyard? Volcanoes have been active across eastern Australia for over 100 million years, which have shaped the landscape and produced the rich volcanic soil we use for growing food. Most volcanoes are found at the edges of tectonic plates, but not in the case of Australia’s volcanoes. Using coffee, Sesame Street, and pancake mix we will unravel the origins of Australia’s enigmatic volcanoes on a voyage through deep time.
Numerical models of groundwater flow play a critical role for water management scenarios under climate extremes. Large‑scale models play a key role in determining long range flow pathways from continental interiors to the oceans, yet struggle to simulate the local flow patterns offered by small‑scale models. We have developed a highly scalable numerical framework to model continental groundwater flow which capture the intricate flow pathways between deep aquifers and the near surface. The coupled thermal‑hydraulic basin structure is inferred from hydraulic head measurements, recharge estimates from geochemical proxies, and borehole temperature data using a Bayesian framework. We use it to model the deep groundwater flow beneath the Sydney–Gunnedah–Bowen Basin, part of Australia’s largest aquifer system. Coastal aquifers have flow rates of up to 0.3 m/day, and a corresponding groundwater residence time of just 2,000 years. In contrast, our model predicts slow flow rates of 0.005 m/day for inland aquifers, resulting in a groundwater residence time of ∼ 400,000 years. Perturbing the model to account for a drop in borehole water levels since 2000, we find that lengthened inland flow pathways depart significantly from pre‑2000 streamlines as groundwater is drawn further from recharge zones in a drying climate. Our results illustrate that progressively increasing water extraction from inland aquifers may permanently alter long‑range flow pathways. Our open‑source modelling approach can be extended to any basin and may help inform policies on the sustainable management of groundwater.
Ben Mather, Dietmar Muller, Maria Seton, Chris Alfonso, Nicky Wright “Slab pull” force is the largest driving force of plate tectonic motion Subduction angle influences plate velocity, distribution of earthquakes, intensity of volcanism, mountain building. Factors controlling subduction angle (or “slab dip”) remain unresolved. Earthquake models constrain the depth of subducting slabs in the mantle Slab2 model (Hayes et al. 2018) provides slab dip information for global subduction zones pyGPlates provides subduction kinematics from the Clennett et al 2020 plate reconstruction. Original study by Jarrard 1986 found the duration of subduction has strongest influence on slab dip. Schellart 2020 has also proposed slab width plays an important role for flat slab subduction Hu & Gurnis 2020 reaffirm subduction duration and the nature of the overriding plate
Exploring the interaction between mantle plumes and subducting slabs in the Tasman Sea region, focusing on the three parallel hotspot tracks — Tasmantid, Lord Howe, and Cosgrove — and how their anomalous spacing and age progression challenge the canonical mantle plume model.
Deep mantle plumes are buoyant upwellings rising from the Earth’s core-mantle boundary to its surface, and describing most hotspot chains. Mechanisms to explain dual chains of hotspot volcanoes for the Hawaiian-Emperor and Yellowstone chains fail to explain the geochemical similarity and large distances between contemporaneous volcanoes of the Tasmantid and Lord Howe chains in the SW Pacific. Using numerical models of mantle convection, we demonstrate how slab-plume interaction can lead to sustained plume branching over a period of >40 million years to produce parallel volcanic chains that track plate motion. We propose a three-part model. first, slabs stagnate in the upper mantle, explaining fast upper mantle P-wave velocity anomalies; second, deflection of a plume conduit by a stagnating slab splits it into two branches 650-900 km apart, aligning to the orientation of the trench axis; third, plume branches heat the stagnating slab causing partial melting and release of volatiles which percolate to the surface forming two contemporaneous volcanic chains with slab-influenced EM1 signatures. Our results highlight the critical role of long-lived subduction on the evolution and behaviour of intraplate volcanism.
Modelling Groundwater flow within the Great Artesian Basin Modelling team : Ben Knight, Ben Mather, Louis Moresi GA team : Neil Symington, Nadege Rollet , John Vizy , Tim Ransley , Luke Wallace, Baskaran Sundaram Underworld development: Adam Beall, Judith Bott, Ben Mather, Louis Moresi , John Mansour, Julian Giordani ANU School of Earth Sciences | Groundwater flow within the GAB 05 04 2022 00 2 ANU School of Earth Sciences | Groundwater flow within the GAB 05 04 2022 The Approach Sophisticated parallel codes that are (relatively) easy to use. Long term support: AuScope 3 ANU School of Earth Sciences | Groundwater flow within the GAB 05 04 2022 The Approach Build your models in a Jupyter notebook in python. Write documentation as you go. Share online. Deploy in a high-performance computing environment as a python script. Parallel version “just works” 4