The AuScope Virtual Earth
This 2D mesh is embeded in 3D space, and is intended to describe the geometry
of the median plane
of subducting lithosphere under South America. It was prepared
by Dr Simon Richards (now at JCU) for the ACcESS MNRF.
The Virtual Earth is made up
of several such 3D meshes that describe
the
geometry of the
planetary lithosphere
in present subduction zones.
This part of the Pplates Virtual Earth project involves
ongoing collaboration
between Professor Gordon Lister at ANU and Dr Simon Richards at JCU .
The Pplates Virtual Earth project can be conceptualized as a set of activities designed to provide software and data infrastructure for the science of spatio-temporal reconstruction.
An important facet of the activity is the construction of the Virtual Earth. This began during the time of the Australian Computational Earth Systems Simulator (ACcESS). This Major National Research Facility is now absorbed in the Modelling and Simulation component of the AuScope National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
The Virtual Earth describes the real or material Earth - it is an electronic rendition of our planet as it is today. The aspect of the Virtual Earth upon which we have specifically focussed is the geometric description of the planetary lithosphere, in particular the 3D geometry of the major subducting slabs. These geometries have been derived by examination of hypocentric datasets in combinaiton with images derived from seismic tomography (e.g. Richards et al. 2005). The tomographic data has been analyzed in a way that emphasizes the median of any particular lithospheric slab. Errors of interpretation will abound, for seismic tomography is after all a science that is still in its infancy, and ray path density in many areas is far lower than is necessary to allow anything but subjective interpretation. Nevertheless, there are advantages to an overall assessment of possible geometry, and a plethora of results that continue to emerge as the result of this analysis.
If you are interested in becoming a user of the NCRIS AuScope software machine, the links provided above allow direct access to the scientists building the individual components.
The Virtual Earth has been designed and built by Dr Simon Richards and Professor Gordon Lister. To contribute to its construction please contact one of us. Industry support is needed to allow the Virtual Earth to continue to the next stage of its development (universal grid-enabled access to the data as part of the AuScope NCRIS initiative).