Continental Residual Topography from Global Crustal Structure Analysis

Stephenson et al. (2024) provide a global database of continental residual topography anomalies, excluding Antarctica. The data includes 4,120 new measurements derived from 26,725 crustal thickness estimates and a conversion model based on 1,136 laboratory measurements. This static version accompanies a 2024 article in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.

Use Cases

• Modeling mantle convection patterns based on long-wavelength residual topography anomalies.
• Correlating lithospheric thickness variations with residual topography estimates.
• Validating geodynamic models using comparisons with free-air gravity and upper mantle seismic velocity anomalies.
• Studying the relationship between intraplate magmatism younger than 10 Ma and residual topography.

Strengths

• Derived from a substantial inventory of 26,725 continental crustal thickness estimates.
• Uses a density conversion model grounded in 1,136 laboratory measurements of seismic velocity.
• Provides 4,120 new, specific measurements of continental residual topography.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network (via data_gov_au), accompanying Stephenson et al. (2024).

Collection Method

Assembled from local seismological datasets and converted using a laboratory-measurement-based parametrization.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 00:26:58.072956; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage for major continents, excluding Antarctica.