Kara Matthews

PhD Candidate

Madsen Building (F09), Room 414
Email:

Supervisors
Prof Dietmar Müller
Dr Gabriele Morra
Dr Maria Seton

Research and Brief CV

PhD title: The 100 Ma global plate reorganisation event

Plate tectonic reorganisations, whereby plate boundaries undergo drastic changes in type, orientation and location, have relatively frequently punctuated Earth’s history. 100 million years ago however, there was a planet-scale plate reorganisation. This event is characterised by a bend in the fracture zones in the Indian Ocean, and hotspot lineaments of the Pacific Ocean. What is particularly interesting about the so-called ‘100 Ma event’ is that it coincides with a pulse in ocean crust production from increased seafloor spreading rates and eruption of LIPs, a series of deformation events in the circum-pacific, and widespread uplift and denudation that all occurred ~120-80 Ma during the Mid-Cretaceous. This period also encompasses the Cretaceous Normal Superchron; a period devoid of magnetic field reversals.

I will be developing computer models, using a new Multi-Pole Boundary Element Method, to unravel the cause of the 100 Ma global plate-reorganisation, and establish a link with the widespread magmatic events that characterise the Mid-Cretaceous. This numerical modelling approach will shed light on the driving mechanisms of planet-scale plate-reorganisations, and ultimately improve our understanding of the complex plate-mantle system that drives global surface evolution.