PaleoAge and PaleoDepth dataset: age and bathymetry of the world's ocean crust for the last 140 million years

The PaleoAge and PaleoDepth dataset provides access to grid data relating to the age and bathymetry of the world's ocean crust for the last 140 million years. The PaleoAge and PaleoDepth dataset focuses on two specific problems - the reconstruction of vanished oceans and the tracking of oceanic depth through time.

Reconstructing vanished oceans

The dataset establishes the locations and geometry of mid ocean ridges through time on the basis of marine magnetic anomaly identifications, geological information such as paleomagnetic data from terranes and microcontinents, especially in the Tethys Ocean, mid-oceanic ridge subduction events and the rules of plate tectonics. Based on a global set of tectonic plate rotations, a set of refined seafloor isochrons is constructed, following the interpolation technique outlined by Müller et al. (1997; 2008).

Oceanic depth through time

The EarthByte Group has created a set of paleo-bathymetry maps by adding major oceanic plateaus and sediment thickness to existing reconstructed basement depth maps. These maps enable the computation of oceanic crustal area and mean depth through time.

The PaleoAge and PaleoDepth dataset and supporting documentation is available via the EarthByte website. The dataset includes documents (including related papers, supplementary materials and tables), images, grid data, associated user documentation, videos, and links to related datasets.