Constitution of the Earth's Interior


Book Description

Constitution of the Earth's Interior discusses the physical and evolutionary principles connecting various elements of the knowledge about structure and dynamics of the Earth's interior. This work is divided into eight chapters that primarily focus on the physical, chemical, and petrological state. This text contains general data on a general stationary model, which is described by equations of state combining the basic parameters, including pressure, temperature, density, gravity acceleration, and mineral composition within the Earth's interior. Considerable chapters concern the chemical and petrological composition of the matter in the Earth's interior. The remaining chapters describe models containing inhomogeneities used to illustrate processes connected with phase transitions. This book will be of great value to geologists, physicists, and researchers.




Earthquake Thermodynamics and Phase Transformation in the Earth's Interior


Book Description

A group of distinguished scientists contributes to the foundations of a new discipline in Earth sciences: earthquake thermodynamics and thermodynamics of formation of the Earth's interior structures. The predictive powers of thermodynamics are so great that those aspiring to model earthquake and the Earth's interior will certainly wish to be able to use the theory. Thermodynamics is our only method of understanding and predicting the behavior of many environmental, atmospheric, and geological processes. The need for Earth scientists to develop a functional knowledge of thermodynamic concepts and methodology is therefore urgent. Sources of an entropy increase the dissipative and self-organizing systems driving the evolution and dynamics of the Universe and Earth through irreversible processes. The non-linear interactions lead to the formation of fractal structures. From the structural phase transformations the important interior boundaries emerge.Non-linear interactions between the defects in solids lead the authors to develop the physics of continua with a dense distribution of defects. Disclinations and dislocations interact during a slow evolution as well as during rapid dynamic events, like earthquakes. Splitting the dynamic processes into the 2D fault done and 3D surrounding space brings a new tool for describing the slip nucleation and propagation along the earthquake faults. Seismic efficiency, rupture velocity, and complexity of seismic source zone are considered from different points of view, fracture band earthquake model is developed on the basis of thermodynamics of line defects, like dislocations. Earthquake thermodynamics offers us a microscopic model of earthquake sources.Physics of defects helps the authors decscribe and explain a number of precursory phenomena caused by the buildup of stresses. Anomalies in electric polarization and electromagnetic radiation prior to earthquakes are considered from this point of view. Through the thermodynamic approach, the authors arrive at the fascinating question of posssibility of earthquake prediction. In general, the Earth is considered here as a multicomponent system. Transport phenomena as well as wave propagation and shock waves are considered in this system subjected also to chemical and phase transformations.







Carbon in Earth's Interior


Book Description

Carbon in Earth's fluid envelopes - the atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, plays a fundamental role in our planet's climate system and a central role in biology, the environment, and the economy of earth system. The source and original quantity of carbon in our planet is uncertain, as are the identities and relative importance of early chemical processes associated with planetary differentiation. Numerous lines of evidence point to the early and continuing exchange of substantial carbon between Earth's surface and its interior, including diamonds, carbon-rich mantle-derived magmas, carbonate rocks in subduction zones and springs carrying deeply sourced carbon-bearing gases. Thus, there is little doubt that a substantial amount of carbon resides in our planet's interior. Yet, while we know it must be present, carbon's forms, transformations and movements at conditions relevant to the interiors of Earth and other planets remain uncertain and untapped. Volume highlights include: - Reviews key, general topics, such as carbonate minerals, the deep carbon cycle, and carbon in magmas or fluids - Describes new results at the frontiers of the field with presenting results on carbon in minerals, melts, and fluids at extreme conditions of planetary interiors - Brings together emerging insights into carbon's forms, transformations and movements through study of the dynamics, structure, stability and reactivity of carbon-based natural materials - Reviews emerging new insights into the properties of allied substances that carry carbon, into the rates of chemical and physical transformations, and into the complex interactions between moving fluids, magmas, and rocks to the interiors of Earth and other planets - Spans the various chemical redox states of carbon, from reduced hydrocarbons to zero-valent diamond and graphite to oxidized CO2 and carbonates - Captures and synthesizes the exciting results of recent, focused efforts in an emerging scientific discipline - Reports advances over the last decade that have led to a major leap forward in our understanding of carbon science - Compiles the range of methods that can be tapped tap from the deep carbon community, which includes experimentalists, first principles theorists, thermodynamic modelers and geodynamicists - Represents a reference point for future deep carbon science research Carbon in Planetary Interiors will be a valuable resource for researchers and students who study the Earth's interior. The topics of this volume are interdisciplinary, and therefore will be useful to professionals from a wide variety of fields in the Earth Sciences, such as mineral physics, petrology, geochemistry, experimentalists, first principles theorists, thermodynamics, material science, chemistry, geophysics and geodynamics.




Phase Diagrams for Geoscientists


Book Description

The book summarizes the results of the experimental studies of phase relations in the chemical systems relevant to Earth, carried out by the author in a time period of over 20 years between 1979 and 2001. It is based on 1000 piston-cylinder experiments at pressures up to 4 GPa, and close to 700 experiments carried out with a multi-anvil apparatus at pressures up to 24 GPA. This is the largest published collection of calculated phase diagrams for the chemical systems relevant to Earth. This is also the first time that the phase relations at the relatively low pressures of the lithospheric mantle, mainly applicable to the experimental thermobarometry of metamorphic rocks and mantle xenoliths, are seamlessly integrated with the phase relations of the sublithospheric upper mantle and the uppermost lower mantle, primarily applicable to inclusions in diamond and schocked meteorites. "Tibor Gasparik has devoted his career to determining the high-pressure, high-temperature phase relations of the geologically important Sodium-Calcium-Magnesium-Aluminium-Silicon (NCMAS) oxide system. This book is his opus magnum, summarizing more than 1700 experiments in over 120 figures. ... I have found Phase Diagrams for Geoscientists to be a useful first port-of-call for finding the P-T stability fields ... and I can recommend the book as a reference for geoscientists requiring an overview of the stable phase assemblages in the top 700 km of the Earth." (David Dobson, Geological Magazine, Vol. 142 (2), 2005)




Origin and Evolution of Earth


Book Description

Questions about the origin and nature of Earth and the life on it have long preoccupied human thought and the scientific endeavor. Deciphering the planet's history and processes could improve the ability to predict catastrophes like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, to manage Earth's resources, and to anticipate changes in climate and geologic processes. At the request of the U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, and U.S. Geological Survey, the National Research Council assembled a committee to propose and explore grand questions in geological and planetary science. This book captures, in a series of questions, the essential scientific challenges that constitute the frontier of Earth science at the start of the 21st century.







Geophysical Abstracts


Book Description




Introduction to the Physics of the Earth's Interior


Book Description

Introduction to the Physics of the Earth's Interior describes the structure, composition and temperature of the deep Earth in one comprehensive volume. This new edition of a successful textbook has been enlarged and fully updated, taking into account the considerable experimental and theoretical progress recently made in understanding the inner structure of the Earth. Like the first edition, this will be a useful textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in geophysics and mineralogy. It will also be of great value to researchers in earth sciences, physics and materials sciences.




Carbon in Earth's Interior


Book Description

This book is Open Access. A digital copy can be downloaded for free from Wiley Online Library. Explores the behavior of carbon in minerals, melts, and fluids under extreme conditions Carbon trapped in diamonds and carbonate-bearing rocks in subduction zones are examples of the continuing exchange of substantial carbon between Earth’s surface and its interior. However, there is still much to learn about the forms, transformations, and movements of carbon deep inside the Earth. Carbon in Earth's Interior presents recent research on the physical and chemical behavior of carbon-bearing materials and serves as a reference point for future carbon science research. Volume highlights include: Data from mineral physics, petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, and geodynamics Research on the deep carbon cycle and carbon in magmas or fluids Dynamics, structure, stability, and reactivity of carbon-based natural materials Properties of allied substances that carry carbon Rates of chemical and physical transformations of carbon The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. Its publications disseminate scientific knowledge and provide resources for researchers, students, and professionals.