John G. Sclater

Bio: John G. Sclater is an academic researcher from University of California, San Diego. The author has contributed to research in topics: Oceanic crust & Lithosphere. The author has an hindex of 55, co-authored 147 publications receiving 17145 citations. Previous affiliations of John G. Sclater include Massachusetts Institute of Technology & University of Texas at Austin.

An analysis of the variation of ocean floor bathymetry and heat flow with age

Abstract: Two models, a simple cooling model and the plate model, have been advanced to account for the variation in depth and heat flow with increasing age of the ocean floor. The simple cooling model predicts a linear relation between depth and t½, and heat flow and 1/t½, where t is the age of the ocean floor. We show that the same t½ dependence is implicit in the solutions for the plate model for sufficiently young ocean floor. For larger ages these relations break down, and depth and heat flow decay exponentially to constant values. The two forms of the solution are developed to provide a simple method of inverting the data to give the model parameters. The empirical depth versus age relation for the North Pacific and North Atlantic has been extended out to 160 m.y. B.P. The depth initially increases as t½, but between 60 and 80 m.y. B.P. the variation of depth with age departs from this simple relation. For older ocean floor the depth decays exponentially with age toward a constant asymptotic value. Such characteristics would be produced by a thermal structure close to that of the plate model. Inverting the data gives a plate thickness of 125±10 km, a bottom boundary temperature of 1350°±275°C, and a thermal expansion coefficient of (3.2±1.1) × 10−5°C−1. Between 0 and 70 m.y. B.P. the depth can be represented by the relation d(t) = 2500 + 350t½ m, with t in m.y. B.P., and for regions older than 20 m.y. B.P. by the relation d(t) = 6400 - 3200 exp (−t/62.8) m. The heat flow data were treated in a similar, but less extensive manner. Although the data are compatible with the same model that accounts for the topography, their scatter prevents their use in the same quantitative fashion. Our analysis shows that the heat flow only responds to the bottom boundary at approximately twice the age at which the depth does. Within the scatter of the data, from 0 to 120 m.y. B.P., the heat flow pan be represented by the relation q(t) = 11.3/t½ μcal cm−2s−1. The previously accepted view that the heat flow observations approach a constant asymptotic value in the old ocean basins needs to be tested more stringently. The above results imply that a mechanism is required to supply heat at the base of the plate.

Continental stretching: An explanation of the Post-Mid-Cretaceous subsidence of the central North Sea Basin

Abstract: The North Sea is a major continental basin filled with early Paleozoic to Recent sediments. Though graben formation started in the Triassic, the last major period of extension occurred between the Middle Jurassic and the mid-Cretaceous. Following the faulting and graben formation associated with this extension, subsidence within the central North Sea was widespread and uniform and has created a saucershaped sedimentary basin. This was filled successively by chalks, sandstones, and finally, during most of the Tertiary, by shales and mudstones. We examined the subsidence of six wells down the middle and two on the flanks of the Central Graben. In the period of widespread steady subsidence the water-loaded basement depth in the middle increased by 1100–1400 m. On the flanks the basement subsided 600–700 m. We suggest that most of this subsidence results from the thermal relaxation of the lithosphere which was thinned during a Middle Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous stretching of the crust. Assuming a crustal stretching and associated lithospheric thinning of between 50 and 100% in the middle and decreasing on either side, we obtained a good match to the observed amplitude and rate of subsidence. The Middle Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous subsidence which is found within the graben proper we relate to the fault-controlled initial subsidence which occurred during the actual stretching. The measured heat flow is compatible with such a stretching model. Though there is no seismic refraction data across the Central Graben, this model is strongly supported by evidence of a thinner crust under the Viking Graben to the north and the Witchground/Buchan Graben complex to the east. Using the above observations as the basis for a geological interpretation, we examined the thermal maturity and hydrocarbon potential of certain sedimentary horizons in the northern section of the Central Graben. In analyzing the various wells we extended previous work on the compaction correction to handle overpressuring and mixed lithologies in backstripping studies. Further, we expanded these methods to include the variation of thermal conductivity, and calculations of the degree of thermal maturation of the deposited sediments, through time.

The heat flow through oceanic and continental crust and the heat loss of the Earth

Abstract: Simple thermal models based on the creation and cooling of the lithosphere can account for the observed subsidence of the ocean floor and the measured decreased in heat flow with age. In well-sedimented areas, where there is little loss of heat due to hydrothermal circulation, the surface heat flow decays uniformly from values in excess of 6 µcal/cm² s (250 mW/m²), for crust younger than 4 Ma (4 m.y. B.P.), to close to 1.1 µcal/cm² s (46 mW/m²) through crust between 120 and 140 Ma. After 200 Ma the heat flow is predicted to reach an equilibrium value of 0.9 µcal/cm² s (38 mW/m²). The surface heat flow on continents is controlled by many phenomena. On the time scale of geological periods the most important of these are the last orogenic event, the distribution of heat-producing elements, and erosion. To better understand the effects of age, each continent is separated into four provinces on the basis of radiometric dates. Reflecting the preponderance of Precambrian crust, two of these provinces cover the Archean to the middle Proterozoic, and the third covers the late Proterozoic to the Mesozoic. The mean heat flow decreases from a value of 1.84 µcal/cm² s (77 mW/m²) for the youngest province to a constant value of 1.1 µcal/cm² s (46 mW/m²) after 800 Ma. The nonradiogenic component of the surface heat flow decays to a constant value of between 0.65 and 0.5 µcal/cm² s (25 and 21 mW/m²) within 200–400 Ma. Using theoretical models, we compute the heat loss through the oceans to be 727 × 1010 cal/s (30.4 × 1012 W). The comparison between the theoretical and measured values allows an estimate of 241 × 1010 cal/s (10.1 × 1012 W) for the heat lost owing to hydrothermal circulation. We show that the heat flow through the marginal basins follows the same relation as that for crust created at a midocean spreading center. These basins have a corresponding heat loss of 71 × 1010 cal/s (3.0 × 1012 W). The heat loss through the continents is calculated from the observations and is 208 × 1010 cal/s (8.8 × 1012 W). Our estimate of the value for the shelves is 67 × 1010 cal/s (2.8 × 1012 W). The total heat loss of the earth is 1002 × 1010 cal/s (42.0 × 1012 W), of which 70% is through the deep oceans and marginal basins and 30% through the continents and continental shelves. The creation of lithosphere accounts for just under 90% of the heat lost through the oceans and hence about 60% of the worldwide heat loss. Convective processes, which include plate creation and orogeny on continents, dissipate two thirds of the heat lost by the earth. Conduction through the lithosphere is responsible for 20%, and the rest is lost by the radioactive decay of the continental and oceanic crust. We place bounds of between 0.6 and 0.9 µcal/cm² s (25 and 38 mW/m²) for the mantle heat flow beneath an ocean at equilibrium and between 0.40 and 0.75 µcal/cm² s (17 and 31 mW/m²) for the heat flow beneath an old stable continent. The computed range of geotherms for an equilibrium ocean overlaps the range of stable continental geotherms below a depth of 100 km. The mantle heat flow beneath a continent decays with a thermal time constant similar to that of the oceanic lithosphere. The continental basins subside with the same time constant. These observations are evidence that there is no detectable difference between the thermal structure of an equilibrium ocean and that of an old continent. Thus the concept of the lithosphere as a combination of a mechanical and a thermal boundary layer can be applied to both oceans and continents. We evaluate the constraints placed on models based on this concept by seismological observations. In the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary we favor these models because they provide a single explanation for the thermal structure of the lithosphere beneath an equilibrium ocean and a stable continent.

The Evolution of the Indian Ocean since the Late Cretaceous

Abstract: Summary All available ship and aeroplane tracks across the Indian Ocean were searched for identifiable magnetic anomalies and transform faults, and hence the age and direction of motion at the time of formation of about two-thirds of the floor of the ocean established. The magnetic lineations show that India moved away from Antarctica at about 18 cm/y for 20 My in the Early Tertiary. This rapid motion ceased in the Eocene and was followed by a period in which little or no spreading took place west of the Ninety East Ridge. Australia separated from Antarctica during this period. The present spreading episode began about 36 My ago. This detailed study has permitted instantaneous poles of rotation to be obtained, and has established that Africa is now moving northward at 2cm/y relative to Antarctica in the South West Indian Ocean. The evolution of the triple junction between the South East, South West and Central Indian Ridges is clearly reflected in the topography and magnetic lineations. The depth of parts of the ocean formed since the Late Cretaceous increases with age in the manner expected from the temperature structure of a cooling plate, and supports the evolution determined from the magnetic lineations in a most remarkable way. Heat flow observations are more scattered but also consistent with the same thermal model. The proposed evolution agrees with the distribution of known continental fragments and with the Late Cretaceous palaeomagnetic poles from surrounding continents and one obtained from the shape of the magnetic lineations south of India. It is, however, not yet clear how to reconstruct Gondwanaland from the Late Cretaceous reconstructions.

Digital isochrons of the world's ocean floor

Abstract: We have created a digital age grid of the ocean floor with a grid node interval of 6 arc min using a self-consistent set of global isochrons and associated plate reconstruction poles. The age at each grid node was determined by linear interpolation between adjacent isochrons in the direction of spreading. Ages for ocean floor between the oldest identified magnetic anomalies and continental crust were interpolated by estimating the ages of passive continental margin segments from geological data and published plate models. We have constructed an age grid with error estimates for each grid cell as a function of (1) the error of ocean floor ages identified from magnetic anomalies along ship tracks and the age of the corresponding grid cells in our age grid, (2) the distance of a given grid cell to the nearest magnetic anomaly identification, and (3) the gradient of the age grid: i.e., larger errors are associated with high age gradients at fracture zones or other age discontinuities. Future applications of this digital grid include studies of the thermal and elastic structure of the lithosphere, the heat loss of the Earth, ridge-push forces through time, asymmetry of spreading, and providing constraints for seismic tomography and mantle convection models.

Composition of the Continental Crust

Abstract: This chapter reviews the present-day composition of the continental crust, the methods employed to derive these estimates, and the implications of the continental crust composition for the formation of the continents, Earth differentiation, and its geochemical inventories. We review the composition of the upper, middle, and lower continental crust. We then examine the bulk crust composition and the implications of this composition for crust generation and modification processes. Finally, we compare the Earth's crust with those of the other terrestrial planets in our solar system and speculate about what unique processes on Earth have given rise to this unusual crustal distribution.

Global Sea Floor Topography from Satellite Altimetry and Ship Depth Soundings

Abstract: A digital bathymetric map of the oceans with a horizontal resolution of 1 to 12 kilometers was derived by combining available depth soundings with high-resolution marine gravity information from the Geosat and ERS-1 spacecraft. Previous global bathymetric maps lacked features such as the 1600-kilometer-long Foundation Seamounts chain in the South Pacific. This map shows relations among the distributions of depth, sea floor area, and sea floor age that do not fit the predictions of deterministic models of subsidence due to lithosphere cooling but may be explained by a stochastic model in which randomly distributed reheating events warm the lithosphere and raise the ocean floor.

Cenozoic Tectonics of Asia: Effects of a Continental Collision: Features of recent continental tectonics in Asia can be interpreted as results of the India-Eurasia collision.

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The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting

Abstract: This essential reference for graduate students and researchers provides a unified treatment of earthquakes and faulting as two aspects of brittle tectonics at different timescales. The intimate connection between the two is manifested in their scaling laws and populations, which evolve from fracture growth and interactions between fractures. The connection between faults and the seismicity generated is governed by the rate and state dependent friction laws - producing distinctive seismic styles of faulting and a gamut of earthquake phenomena including aftershocks, afterslip, earthquake triggering, and slow slip events. The third edition of this classic treatise presents a wealth of new topics and new observations. These include slow earthquake phenomena; friction of phyllosilicates, and at high sliding velocities; fault structures; relative roles of strong and seismogenic versus weak and creeping faults; dynamic triggering of earthquakes; oceanic earthquakes; megathrust earthquakes in subduction zones; deep earthquakes; and new observations of earthquake precursory phenomena.