Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 03, 2026 at 12:26 AM | Dataset Last Updated: December 31, 2008 at 12:00 AM
The authors present four companion digital models of the age, age uncertainty, spreading rates and spreading asymmetries of the world's ocean basins as geographic and Mercator grids with 2 minute resolution. The grids include data from all the major ocean basins as well as detailed reconstructions of back-arc basins. The age, spreading rate and asymmetry at each grid node is determined by linear interpolation between adjacent seafloor isochrons in the direction of spreading. Ages for ocean floor between the oldest identified magnetic anomalies and continental crust are interpolated by geological estimates of the ages of passive continental margin segments. The age uncertainties for grid cells coinciding with marine magnetic anomaly identifications, observed or rotated to their conjugate ridge flanks, are based on the difference between gridded age and observed age. The uncertainties are also a function of the distance of a given grid cell to the nearest age observation, and the proximity to fracture zones or other age discontinuities. Asymmetries in crustal accretion appear to be frequently related to asthenospheric flow from mantle plumes to spreading ridges, resulting in ridge jumps towards hotspots. The authors also use the new age grid to compute global residual basement depth grids from the difference between observed oceanic basement depth and predicted depth using two alternative age-depth relationships. The new set of grids helps to investigate prominent negative depth anomalies, which may be alternatively related to subducted slab material descending in the mantle or to asthenospheric flow. A combination of these digital grids and the associated relative and absolute plate motion model with seismic tomography and mantle convection model outputs represent a valuable set of tools to investigate geodynamic problems.

Resources

7 resources available

  • https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/ocean_age/ocean_age_2008.html

    TEXT/HTML
    Visit Page

  • http://www.earthbyte.org/Resources/agegrid2008.html

    TEXT/HTML
    Visit Page

  • Marine geology metadata records.

    TEXT/HTML
    Visit Page

  • Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)

    TEXT/HTML
    Visit Page

  • SeaDataNet Common Vocabularies

    TEXT/HTML
    Visit Page

  • GCMD Keyword Forum Page

    TEXT/HTML
    Visit Page

  • NCEI Contact Information

    TEXT/HTML
    Visit Page

Find Related Datasets

Search by Tags

Click any tag below to search for similar datasets

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
contactPoint 
{
  "fn": "Not provided - Contact data.gov",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:datagovsupport@gsa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description The authors present four companion digital models of the age, age uncertainty, spreading rates and spreading asymmetries of the world's ocean basins as geographic and Mercator grids with 2 minute resolution. The grids include data from all the major ocean basins as well as detailed reconstructions of back-arc basins. The age, spreading rate and asymmetry at each grid node is determined by linear interpolation between adjacent seafloor isochrons in the direction of spreading. Ages for ocean floor between the oldest identified magnetic anomalies and continental crust are interpolated by geological estimates of the ages of passive continental margin segments. The age uncertainties for grid cells coinciding with marine magnetic anomaly identifications, observed or rotated to their conjugate ridge flanks, are based on the difference between gridded age and observed age. The uncertainties are also a function of the distance of a given grid cell to the nearest age observation, and the proximity to fracture zones or other age discontinuities. Asymmetries in crustal accretion appear to be frequently related to asthenospheric flow from mantle plumes to spreading ridges, resulting in ridge jumps towards hotspots. The authors also use the new age grid to compute global residual basement depth grids from the difference between observed oceanic basement depth and predicted depth using two alternative age-depth relationships. The new set of grids helps to investigate prominent negative depth anomalies, which may be alternatively related to subducted slab material descending in the mantle or to asthenospheric flow. A combination of these digital grids and the associated relative and absolute plate motion model with seismic tomography and mantle convection model outputs represent a valuable set of tools to investigate geodynamic problems.
distribution 
[
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/ocean_age/ocean_age_2008.html",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/ocean_age/ocean_age_2008.html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "NGDC Web page of information about the data set with links to download data and documentation from NCEI.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "http://www.earthbyte.org/Resources/agegrid2008.html",
    "accessURL": "http://www.earthbyte.org/Resources/agegrid2008.html",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Alternate download from the originator.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Marine geology metadata records.",
    "accessURL": "https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC/MGG/Geology/iso/",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)",
    "accessURL": "http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are part of a Linked Data Service, actively maintained since 1898 to catalog materials held at the Library of Congress.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SeaDataNet Common Vocabularies",
    "accessURL": "http://www.seadatanet.org/Standards-Software/Common-Vocabularies",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "The SeaDataNet Vocabulary Server is populated with lists describing a wide range of entities relevant to marine metadata and data such as parameters, sea area names, platform classes, instrument types, and so on.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "GCMD Keyword Forum Page",
    "accessURL": "https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2024. GCMD Keywords, Version 19. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "NCEI Contact Information",
    "accessURL": "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "Information for contacts at NCEI.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  }
]
identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC/MGG/Geology/iso/xml/G04150.xml
issued 2008-12-31T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
[
  "Scientific archives",
  "Electronic records",
  "Oceanography",
  "Ocean bottom",
  "Geology",
  "Submarine geology",
  "Marine geology",
  "Earth Science > OCEANS > Marine Geophysics > Marine Magnetics",
  "Earth Science > SOLID EARTH > Rocks/Minerals/Crystals > Age Determinations",
  "Earth Science > SOLID EARTH > Geomagnetism > Paleomagnetism",
  "In Situ Ocean-based Platforms > Ships",
  "Unknown",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC > National Geophysical Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "SOLID EARTH > CRUST",
  "Geographic Region > Global Ocean",
  "Vertical Location >Sea Floor"
]
language 
[]
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2008-12-31T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
{
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
[
  "https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC/MGG/Geology/iso/"
]
rights otherRestrictions, otherRestrictions, unclassified
spatial 180.0,-90.0,-180.0,90.0
temporal 2008-12-31T00:00:00+00:00/2008-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
theme 
[
  "geospatial"
]
title Age, spreading rates, and spreading asymmetry of the world's ocean crust

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov