Global Continental Residual Topography Estimates from Crustal Structure Analysis

A global database of 4,120 estimates of continental residual topography, excluding Antarctica, derived from 26,725 crustal thickness measurements and a 1,136-sample laboratory velocity-density parametrization. The data and accompanying software were published by Stephenson et al. (2024) in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. The static repository version is current as of March 7, 2024.

Use Cases

• Modeling mantle convection patterns based on long-wavelength residual topographic anomalies.
• Investigating lithospheric thickness variations based on corrected crustal support estimates.
• Correlating seismic velocity anomalies with surface topography based on the integrated crustal structure database.
• Validating geodynamic models using spot measurements of emergent marine strata and intraplate magmatism mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Integrates a large global inventory of 26,725 continental crustal thickness estimates.
• Uses a physically-grounded density conversion based on 1,136 laboratory measurements.
• Provides a substantial set of 4,120 new residual topography measurements.
• Includes the SeisCruST database of global crustal thickness and velocity profiles.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for the primary topography database is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Excludes Antarctica from its continental coverage.

Provenance

Source

Stephenson et al. (2024), Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Assembled from local seismological datasets and a laboratory measurement database for velocity-density conversion.

Time Range

Static version current as of 07/03/2024.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-28 12:26:10.018474; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage for major continents, excluding Antarctica.