Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust

browse graphiccrustal ages
The authors present four companion digital models of the age, age uncertainty, spreading rates and spreading asymmetries of the world's ocean basins as geographic and Mercator grids with 2 minute resolution. The grids include data from all the major ocean basins as well as detailed reconstructions of back-arc basins. The age, spreading rate and asymmetry at each grid node is determined by linear interpolation between adjacent seafloor isochrons in the direction of spreading. Ages for ocean floor between the oldest identified magnetic anomalies and continental crust are interpolated by geological estimates of the ages of passive continental margin segments. The age uncertainties for grid cells coinciding with marine magnetic anomaly identifications, observed or rotated to their conjugate ridge flanks, are based on the difference between gridded age and observed age. The uncertainties are also a function of the distance of a given grid cell to the nearest age observation, and the proximity to fracture zones or other age discontinuities. Asymmetries in crustal accretion appear to be frequently related to asthenospheric flow from mantle plumes to spreading ridges, resulting in ridge jumps towards hotspots. The authors also use the new age grid to compute global residual basement depth grids from the difference between observed oceanic basement depth and predicted depth using two alternative age-depth relationships. The new set of grids helps to investigate prominent negative depth anomalies, which may be alternatively related to subducted slab material descending in the mantle or to asthenospheric flow. A combination of these digital grids and the associated relative and absolute plate motion model with seismic tomography and mantle convection model outputs represent a valuable set of tools to investigate geodynamic problems.
  • Cite as: Muller, R.D.; Sdrolias, M.; Gaina, C.; Roest, W.R.; 2008: Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GC001743. Accessed [date].
gov.noaa.ngdc.mgg.geology:G04150
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Distributor NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
ncei.info@noaa.gov
Dataset Point of Contact NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
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Dataset Point of Contact Marine Geology Data Manager
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
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Coverage Description Global sea floor
Time Period 2008-12-31 to 2008-12-31
Spatial Reference System urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG:4326
Spatial Bounding Box Coordinates
West:-180.0
East:180.0
South:-90.0
North:90.0
Spatial Coverage Map
General Documentation
Associated Resources
Publication Dates
  • publication: 2008-12-31
  • revision: 2008-12-31
Edition 1
Data Presentation Form Digital table - digital representation of facts or figures systematically displayed, especially in columns
Dataset Progress Status ongoing
Historical archive - data has been stored in an offline storage facility
Data Update Frequency Unknown - New versions may be archived in the future.
Supplemental Information
Data from this report are available online from NCEI, and also online from EarthByte Group, University of Sydney. Version 3 (posted 9/25/2008) contains the following changes: 1) Spreading asymmetry for crust without a present day conjugate is included in this version of the grid due to several requests received by the authors.2) Adjustment to the location of chron M25 in the westernmost Pacific (Pacific-Izanagi) and to the age assigned to the Pacific triangle.3) Minor COB modifications around back-arc basins to minimise over-interpolation artifacts from the adjacent subducting ocean floor.4) A gridding artifact in the Bay of Bengal, eastern India and in the southern Indian Ocean, east of the Enderby Basin was fixed.5) Inclusion of the Komandorsky Basin and Bering Sea, North Pacific.
Purpose Scientific Research
Use Limitations
  • Produced by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Not subject to copyright protection within the United States.
Dataset Citation
  • Cite as: Muller, R.D.; Sdrolias, M.; Gaina, C.; Roest, W.R.; 2008: Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GC001743. Accessed [date].
Cited Authors
  • Muller, R.D.
    School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Sdrolias, M.
    EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Gaina, C.
    Center for Geodynamics, Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway
  • Roest, W.R.
    Departement Geosciences Marines, Plouzane, France
Collaborators
  • EarthByte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Australia
Publishers
  • NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Acknowledgments
  • Cite as: Muller, R. D., M. Sdrolias, C. Gaina, and W. R. Roest (2008), Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 9, Q04006, doi:10.1029/2007GC001743.
Theme keywords Library of Congress Subject Headings
  • Scientific archives
  • Electronic records
  • Oceanography
  • Ocean bottom
  • Geology
  • Submarine geology
SeaDataNet Common Vocabularies
  • Marine geology
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
  • Earth Science > OCEANS > Marine Geophysics > Marine Magnetics
  • Earth Science > SOLID EARTH > Rocks/Minerals/Crystals > Age Determinations
  • Earth Science > SOLID EARTH > Geomagnetism > Paleomagnetism
Data Center keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Data Center Keywords
  • DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
  • DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC > National Geophysical Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
Platform keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Platform Keywords
  • In Situ Ocean-based Platforms > Ships
Instrument keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Instrument Keywords
  • Unknown
Place keywords Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords
  • SOLID EARTH > CRUST
  • Geographic Region > Global Ocean
  • Vertical Location >Sea Floor
Keywords
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    Other Constraints Cite as: Muller, R.D.; Sdrolias, M.; Gaina, C.; Roest, W.R.; 2008: Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GC001743. Accessed [date].
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    Lineage information for:dataset
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    Processing Environment Native Dataset Environment: ASCII text
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    Processing Steps
    • 2015-04-22T00:00:00 -NOAA created the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) by merging NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), and National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), including the National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC), per the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, Public Law 113-235. NCEI launched publicly on April 22, 2015.
    Acquisition Information (collection)
    Instrument
    • In Situ/Laboratory Instruments
    Platform
    • In Situ Ocean-based Platforms > SHIPS
    Last Modified: 2020-04-21
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