Slow Seafloor Spreading Patterns Off Southern Australia, 96 to 44.5 Million Years Ago

96 to 44.5 million years ago, seafloor spreading occurred off southern Australia following continental separation from Antarctica. The dataset is a compilation of magnetic anomaly data confirming a phase of slow spreading at less than 4.4 mm/year, characterized by ridge jumps and variable spreading azimuths. Data includes critical measurements from the 1986 R/V Rig Seismic cruise and is provided by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Modeling plate tectonic reconstructions based on magnetic anomaly timelines.
• Analyzing the response of slow spreading systems to oblique continental boundaries based on variable isochron azimuths.
• Comparing ancient slow spreading regimes to modern analogues like the Gulf of Aden based on described similarities.

Strengths

• Includes critical data from a specific research cruise (R/V Rig Seismic, 1986).
• Describes a detailed tectonic timeline with specific half-rates (e.g., <4.4 mm/year) and azimuths.
• Covers a long geological time range from breakup at 96 Ma to 44.5 Ma.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data files are in HTML and PDF formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Compilation of seafloor spreading magnetic data, including ship-collected measurements.

Time Range

96 to 44.5 million years ago (Mid-Cretaceous to Eocene)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 18:41:26.602317; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southern margin of Australia, between 129°E and 131.75°E, and the adjacent Southern Ocean.