Maria Seton

Maria Seton
Maria Seton
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	The University of Sydney
Awards	Dorothy Hill award (2014)
	Scientific career
Fields	Geology
Institutions	The University of Sydney

Last updated January 06, 2025

Maria Seton (neeSdrolias) is an Australian geologist in the Faculty of Science EarthByte Group School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney.^[1] Seton's research is in the field of geophysics and geodynamics. Her main focus is the link between plate tectonic and mantle processes. Seton also works on kinematic controls on subduction and back-arc basin formation and the relationship between tectonics and palaeo-climate.

Research

Subduction and Back-arc-Basin

Seton has recently updated the palaeo subduction and back-arc basin parameters.^[2] This important data was visualised in a new grid map available online.^[3] One of the main achievements of this work is the correlation made between the age of the subducting oceanic lithosphere and the intermediate dip of the slab. Related to the subduction survey, back-arc-basins were studied, and their occurrence was correlated to the age of subducting oceanic lithosphere.

SW Pacific and Philippine Sea tectonics

Seton had surveyed the SW Pacific Ocean and collected important new bathymetry, gravity and magnetic data on the FAUST2 cruise. She published the results concerning the spreading history in the inactive back-arc basins in The Australian Plate GSA Special Volume.^[4] Seton also examined the rotation history of the Philippine Sea plate.

Collaborative projects

Seton is involved a collaborative work on the creation of the new agegrid as well as palaeo-agegrids. Another collaborative work she is involved with is the modelling the palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate of the Southern Ocean during the past 40 million years.

Sandy Island enigma

In one of her research cruises through the South Pacific Ocean, Dr Seton and her colleagues realised that an island charted on Google Earth and scientific maps in fact does not exist. A close investigation exposed a mistake that was made by sailors in the 19th century when the region was mapped. Sandy Island, New Caledonia was removed from the official French hydrographic charts by the French Hydrographic Service in 1974 after a flying recognition campaign and by AHS in 1985. The information about the status of the phantom island was passed on to other national hydrographic services around the world, but Sandy Island remained in global coastline and bathymetry compilations used by the anglophone community and was still there when the R/V Southern Surveyor sailed toward the Coral Sea in October 2012.

Select publications and bibliography

Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Whittaker, J., Wessel, P., Müller, R., DeMets, C., Merkouriev, S., Cande, S., Gaina, C., Eagles, G., Granot, R., et al. (2014). Community infrastructure and repository for marine magnetic identifications. G3: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: an electronic journal of the earth sciences, 15, 1629–1641.
Gallagher, S., Exon, N., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Ikehara, M., Hollis, C., Arculus, R., D'Hondt, S., Foster, C., Gurnis, M., Kennett, J., et al. (2014). Exploring new drilling prospects in the southwest Pacific. Scientific Drilling, 2(17), 1–6.
Butterworth, N., Talsma, A., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Bunge, H., Schuberth, B., Shephard, G., Heine, C. (2014). Geological, tomographic, kinematic and geodynamic constraints on the dynamics of sinking slabs. Journal of Geodynamics, 73, 1–13.
Zahirovic, S., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Müller, R. (2014). The Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Southeast Asia. Solid Earth, 56, 227–273.
Flament, N., Gurnis, M., Williams, S., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Skogseid, J., Heine, C., Müller, R. (2014). Topographic asymmetry of the South Atlantic from global models of mantle flow and lithospheric stretching. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 387, 107–119.
Coltice, N., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Rolf, T., Müller, R., Tackley, P. (2013). Convergence in tectonic reconstructions and mantle convection models for significant fluctuations in seafloor spreading. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 383, 92–100.
Bower, D., Gurnis, M., Seton (née Sdrolias), M. (2013). Lower Mantle Structure from paleogeographically constrained dynamic Earth models. G3: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: an electronic journal of the earth sciences, 14(1), 44–63.
Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Williams, S., Zahirovic, S., Micklethwaite, S. (2013). Obituary: Sandy Island (1876–2012). EOS, 94(15), 141–142.
Morra, G., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Quevedo, L., Müller, R. (2013). Organization of the tectonic plates in the last 200 Myr. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 373, 93–101.
Müller, R., Dutkiewicz, A., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Gaina, C. (2013). Seawater chemistry driven by supercontinent assembly, break-up, and dispersal. Geology (Boulder), 41(8), 907–910.
Shephard, G., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M. (2013). The tectonic evolution of the Arctic since Pangea break-up: Integrating constraints from surface geology and geophysics with mantle structure. Earth-Science Reviews, 124, 148–183.
Wright, N., Zahirovic, S., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M. (2013). Towards community-driven paleogeographic reconstructions: integrating open-access paleogeographic and paleobiology data with plate tectonics. Biogeosciences, 10(3), 1529–1541.
Matthews, K., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Müller, R. (2012). A global-scale plate reorganisation event at 105–100 Ma. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 355–356, 283–298.
Greenwood, D., Herold, N., Huber, M., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M. (2012). Early to middle Miocene monsoon climate in Australia. Geology (Boulder), 40(6), e274-e274.
Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Müller, R., Zahirovic, S., Gaina, C., Torsvik, T., Shephard, G., Talsma, A., Gurnis, M., Turner, M., Maus, S., et al. (2012). Global continental and ocean basin reconstructions since 200 Ma. Earth-Science Reviews, 113(3–4), 212–270.
Zahirovic, S., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Flament, N., Gurnis, M., Whittaker, J. (2012). Insights on the kinematics of the India-Eurasia collision from global geodynamic models. G3: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: an electronic journal of the earth sciences, 13(4).
Herold, N., Huber, M., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M. (2012). Modeling the Miocene climatic optimum: Ocean Circulation. Paleoceanography, 27(1), 1–22.
Gurnis, M., Turner, M., Zahirovic, S., DiCaprio, L., Spasojevic, S., Müller, R., Boyden, J., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Manea, V., Bower, D. (2012). Plate Tectonic Reconstructions with Continuously Closing Plates. Computers and Geosciences, 38(1), 35–42.
Chandler, M., Wessel, P., Taylor, B., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Kim, S., Hyeong, K. (2012). Reconstructing Ontong Java Nui: Implications for Pacific absolute plate motion, hotspot drift and true polar wander. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 331–332, 140–151.
Herold, N., Huber, M., Greenwood, D., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M. (2011). Early to middle Miocene monsoon climate in Australia. Geology (Boulder), 39(1), 3–6.
Goes, S., Capitanio, F., Morra, G., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Giardini, D. (2011). Signatures of downgoing plate-buoyancy driven subduction in Cenozoic plate motions. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 184(1–2), 1–13.
Herold, N., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M. (2010). Comparing early to middle Miocene terrestrial climate simulations with geological data. Geosphere, 6(6), 952–961.
Liu, L., Gurnis, M., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Saleeby, J., Müller, R., Jackson, J. (2010). The role of oceanic plateau subduction in the Laramide orogeny. Nature Geoscience, 3(5), 353–357.
Tong, J., You, Y., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M. (2009). Climate model sensitivity to atmospheric CO₂ concentrations for the middle Miocene. Global and Planetary Change, 67(3–4), 129–140.
Herold, N., You, Y., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M. (2009). Climate model sensitivity to changes in Miocene paleotopography. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 56(8), 1049–1059.
Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Gaina, C., Müller, R., Heine, C. (2009). Mid-Cretaceous seafloor spreading pulse: Fact or fiction? Geology (Boulder), 37(8), 687–690.
Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Gaina, C., Roest, W. (2008). Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust. G3: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: an electronic journal of the earth sciences, 9(4), 1–19.
Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Gaina, C., Steinberger, B., Heine, C. (2008). Long-Term Sea-Level Fluctuations Driven by Ocean Basin Dynamics. Science, 319(5868), 1357–1362.
Herold, N., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Müller, R., You, Y., Huber, M. (2008). Middle Miocene tectonic boundary conditions for use in climate models. G3: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: an electronic journal of the earth sciences, 9(10), Q10009-1-Q10009-10.
Whittaker, J., Müller, R., Leitchenkov, G., Stagg, H., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Gaina, C., Goncharov, A. (2008). Response to comment on "Major Australian-antarctic plate reorganization at Hawaiian-emperor bend time". Science, 321(5888), 490.
Whittaker, J., Müller, R., Leitchenkov, G., Stagg, H., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Gaina, C., Goncharov, A. (2007). Major Australian-Antarctic plate reorganisation at Hawaiian-Emperor bend time [Report]. Science, 318(5847), 83–86.
Whittaker, J., Müller, R., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Heine, C. (2007). Sunda-Java trench kinematics, slab window formation and over-riding plate deformation since the Cretaceous. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 255(3–4), 445–457.
Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Müller, R. (2006). Controls on back-arc basin formation. G3: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: an electronic journal of the earth sciences, 7(4), 1–40.
Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Roest, W., Müller, R. (2004). An Expression Of Philippine Plate Rotation: The Parece *Vela And Shikoku Basins. Tectonophysics, 394, 69–86.
Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Müller, R., Mauffret, A., Bernardel, G. (2004). Enigmatic Formation Of The Norfolk *Basin, Sw Pacific: A Plume Influence On Back-Arc Extension. G3: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems: an electronic journal of the earth sciences, 5(6), 1–28. [More Information]
Hall, C., Gurnis, M., Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Lavier, L., Müller, R. (2003). Castastrophic initiation of subduction following forced convergence across fracture zones. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 212, 15–30.
Seton (née Sdrolias), M., Müller, R., Gaina, C. (2003). Tectonic evolution of the southwest Pacific using constraints from backarc basins. Geological Society of Australia Special Publication, 22, 343–359.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Samoa</span>

The Samoan archipelago is a chain of 16 islands and numerous seamounts covering 3,123 km² (1,206 sq mi) in the central South Pacific, south of the equator, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. The islands are Savaiʻi, Upolu, Tutuila, ’Uvea, Taʻū, Ofu, Olosega, Apolima, Manono, Nuʻutele, Niulakita, Nuʻulua, Namua, Fanuatapu, Rose Atoll, Nu'ulopa, as well as the submerged Vailuluʻu, Pasco banks, and Alexa Bank.

Seafloor spreading, or seafloor spread, is a process that occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge.

Tectonics are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of planetary tectonics extends the concept to other planets and moons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan de Fuca plate</span> Small tectonic plate in the eastern North Pacific

The Juan de Fuca plate is a small tectonic plate (microplate) generated from the Juan de Fuca Ridge that is subducting beneath the northerly portion of the western side of the North American plate at the Cascadia subduction zone. It is named after the explorer of the same name. One of the smallest of Earth's tectonic plates, the Juan de Fuca plate is a remnant part of the once-vast Farallon plate, which is now largely subducted underneath the North American plate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific plate</span> Oceanic tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean

The Pacific plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At 103 million km² (40 million sq mi), it is the largest tectonic plate.

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.

The Izanagi plate was an ancient tectonic plate, which began subducting beneath the Okhotsk plate 130–100 Ma. The rapid plate motion of the Izanagi plate caused northwest Japan and the outer zone of southwest Japan to drift northward. High-pressure metamorphic rocks were formed at the eastern margin of the drifting land mass in the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt, while low-pressure metamorphic rocks were formed at its western margin in the Abukuma metamorphic belt. At approximately 55 Ma, the Izanagi Plate was completely subducted and replaced by the western Pacific plate, which also subducted in a northwestern direction. Subduction-related magmatism took place near the Ryoke belt. No marked tectonics occurred in the Abukuma belt after the change of the subducted plate.

The Phoenix plate was a tectonic plate that existed during the early Paleozoic through late Cenozoic time. It formed a triple junction with the Izanagi and Farallon plates in the Panthalassa Ocean as early as 410 million years ago, during which time the Phoenix plate was subducting under eastern Gondwana.

A back-arc basin is a type of geologic basin, found at some convergent plate boundaries. Presently all back-arc basins are submarine features associated with island arcs and subduction zones, with many found in the western Pacific Ocean. Most of them result from tensional forces, caused by a process known as oceanic trench rollback, where a subduction zone moves towards the subducting plate. Back-arc basins were initially an unexpected phenomenon in plate tectonics, as convergent boundaries were expected to universally be zones of compression. However, in 1970, Dan Karig published a model of back-arc basins consistent with plate tectonics.

The Norfolk Ridge is a long submarine ridge running between New Caledonia and New Zealand, about 1,300 km (810 mi) off the east-coast of Australia.

The New Hebrides plate, sometimes called the Neo-Hebridean plate, is a minor tectonic plate located in the Pacific Ocean. While most of it is submerged as the sea bottom of the North Fiji Basin, the island country of Vanuatu, with multiple arc volcanoes, is on the western edge of the plate. It is bounded on the south-west by the Australian plate, which is subducting below it at the New Hebrides Trench. The Vanuatu subduction zone is seismically active, producing many earthquakes of magnitude 7 or higher. To its north is the Pacific plate, north-east the Balmoral Reef plate and to its east the Conway Reef plate.

The Hikurangi Plateau is an oceanic plateau in the South Pacific Ocean east of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of a large igneous province (LIP) together with Manihiki and Ontong Java, now located 3,000 km (1,900 mi) and 3,500 km (2,200 mi) north of Hikurangi respectively. Mount Hikurangi, in Māori mythology the first part of the North Island to emerge from the ocean, gave its name to the plateau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aegean Sea plate</span> A small tectonic plate in the eastern Mediterranean Sea

The Aegean Sea plate is a small tectonic plate located in the Eastern Mediterranean under Southern Greece and western Turkey. Its southern edge is the Hellenic subduction zone south of Crete, where the African plate is being swept under the Aegean Sea plate. Its northern margin is a divergent boundary with the Eurasian plate.

The Balmoral Reef plate is a small tectonic plate (microplate) located in the south Pacific north of Fiji. Clockwise from the north, it borders the Pacific plate, the Australian plate, Conway Reef plate, and the New Hebrides plate. The northern and western borders are a divergent boundary while the rest of the borders are transform and convergent boundaries. The Balmoral Reef plate's ocean crust is less than 12 million years old and is spreading between the New Hebrides and Tonga subduction. The plate forms the west central part of the seafloor of the North Fiji Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline plate</span> Minor oceanic tectonic plate north of New Guinea

The Caroline plate is a minor tectonic plate that straddles the Equator in the eastern hemisphere located north of New Guinea. It forms a subduction zone along the border with the Bird's Head plate and other minor plates of the New Guinea region to the south. A transform boundary forms the northern border with the Pacific plate. Along the border with the Philippine Sea plate is a convergent boundary that transitions into a rift.

Carmen Gaina is the Director of the Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED) a Norwegian Centre of Excellence hosted at the Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Norway.

In geology, the slab is a significant constituent of subduction zones.

The Pacific Ocean evolved in the Mesozoic from the Panthalassic Ocean, which had formed when Rodinia rifted apart around 750 Ma. The first ocean floor which is part of the current Pacific plate began 160 Ma to the west of the central Pacific and subsequently developed into the largest oceanic plate on Earth.

Dietmar Müller is a professor of geophysics at the school of geosciences, the University of Sydney.

The Norfolk Basin, which has been subdivided into the North Norfolk Basin and South Norfolk Basin, is an ocean floor sedimentary basin between the Norfolk Ridge to the east and the Three Kings Ridge to the west, on the edge of the submerged continent of Zealandia. The northern boundary is the Cook fracture zone and the southern is the Regina ridge projecting from Northland Peninsula, New Zealand. While it has back-arc basin characteristics its formation and structure are not able to be explained by historic back-arc basin theory.

References

↑ "Staff Profile". The University of Sydney.
↑ Sdrolias and Müller, 2006, Controls on Back-arc Basin Formation, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, Vol. 7, Q04016, doi:10.1029/2005GC001090.
↑ "EarthByte". Archived from the original on 1 May 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
↑ [Seton (nee Sdrolias), M., Müller, R., Gaina, C. (2003). Tectonic evolution of the southwest Pacific using constraints from backarc basins. Geological Society of Australia Special Publication, 22, 343–359.].

External links

Staff Profile
Maria Seton
Maria Seton publications indexed by Google Scholar

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Staff Profile". The University of Sydney.

[2] Sdrolias and Müller, 2006, Controls on Back-arc Basin Formation, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, Vol. 7, Q04016, doi:10.1029/2005GC001090.

[3] "EarthByte". Archived from the original on 1 May 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2025.

[4] [Seton (nee Sdrolias), M., Müller, R., Gaina, C. (2003). Tectonic evolution of the southwest Pacific using constraints from backarc basins. Geological Society of Australia Special Publication, 22, 343–359.].

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]