Lord Howe Rise Continental Ribbon: Tectonic Drivers

A recent deep crustal seismic survey across the Lord Howe Rise provides new data to explore the drivers behind rifting and plate tectonics. This dataset focuses on the Cretaceous rift basins of the Lord Howe Rise, a submerged continental ribbon formed during the fragmentation of eastern Gondwana. It aims to distinguish between self-organizing and mantle-driven models of plate motion using the ribbon's extensional history and igneous rock composition.

Use Cases

• Testing plate tectonic models based on extensional history data from rift basins.
• Analyzing the composition and tectonic affinity of igneous rocks within Cretaceous basins.
• Integrating marine and satellite geophysical data with new seismic survey results.
• Planning future deep stratigraphic drilling proposed by the IODP.

Strengths

• Cross-platform presence on data.gov.au signals its importance and curation.
• The description provides a detailed scientific context and specific research questions.

Limitations

• Key metadata is missing: column names, row count, file size, license, and author are all unknown.
• The dataset's structure and specific data types cannot be determined from the available descriptions.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' dates provided (2026-05-05 vs 2026-04-04).

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Likely incorporates marine and satellite geophysical data, dredge samples, shallow drilling (<600 m), and a recent deep crustal seismic survey.

Time Range

Cretaceous period (geological focus)

Freshness

Last updated: 2026-05-05 02:14:39.081681

Geography

Lord Howe Rise, Southwest Pacific, eastern Gondwana region