Grand Challenges in Geodynamics. Outstanding geodynamics problems and emerging researchopportunities for the Earth Sciences

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2010. -103 pp.В сборнике сформулированы и описаны 10 наиболее важных (по мнению авторов) нерешенных проблем геодинамики. Каждой проблеме посвящена отдельная статья.Издание инициативной группы ученых: Peter Olson, David Bercovici, Bruce Buffett, Richard Carlson, Jason Phipps Morgan, Mousumi Roy, Diana Valencia, - специализирующихся, главным образом, в области глобальной геодинамики и моделировании мантийной конвекции.Early Days of the Earth: What processes occurred within the first few hundred million years of its formation that made the Earth habitable today? Generation of Plate Tectonics from Mantle Convection: Why does plate tectonics occur on Earth but not in other terrestrial mantles in our solar system?Thermo-Chemical Evolution of the Mantle and Core: Cooling of the Earth by mantle convection is the pacemaker for growth and dispersal of continents, volcanism worldwide, and solidification of the inner core. Tectonics, Water, Climate, and the Biosphere: The mantle is Earth’s largest reservoir, sequestering and exchanging water, carbon dioxide, and other volatiles with the surface environment.Dynamics of the Continents—Interiors, Roots, and Margins: How do the continents, with their deep roots, ancient interiors, and deforming margins, accommodate tectonic plate motions?Intra-plate Volcanism—Causes and Consequences: The origins of intra-plate volcanism remain deeply controversial, especially the major long-lived, mid-plate hotspots such as Hawaii.Earthquake Dynamics: How can geodynamics lead to a better understanding of destructive earthquakes and tsunamis?Geology of the Core-Mantle Boundary Region: What geological processes shape the core-mantle boundary, the most fundamental transition in Earth’s interior?Origin of Earth’s Changing Magnetic Field: How does the dynamo process in the core sustain our constantly changing geomagnetic shield?Alternate Earths: Extra-solar Planetary Interiors and their Surfaces: Earth-sized solid planets exist outside our solar system; how do we connect astronomical observations to their interior structure anddynamics?