Dynamic Earth

Dynamic Earth presents the principles of convection in the earth's mantle

in an accessible style. Mantle convection is the process underlying plate
tectonics, volcanic hotspots and, hence, most geological processes. This
book is one of the first to synthesise the exciting insights into the earth's
basic internal mechanisms that have flowed from the plate tectonics
revolution of the 1960s.
The book summarises key observations and presents the relevant
physics starting from basic principles. The core of the text shows how
direct inferences from observations and basic physics clarify the roles of
the tectonic plates and mantle plumes. The main concepts and arguments
are presented with minimal mathematics, although more mathematical
versions of important aspects are included for those who desire them. The
book also surveys the geochemical constraints on the mantle and discusses
its dynamical evolution, with implications for changes in the surface
tectonic regime.
The audience for Geoff Davies' book will be the broad range of
geologists who desire a better understanding of the earth's internal
dynamics, as well as graduate students and researchers working on the
many aspects of mantle dynamics and its implications for geological
processes on earth and other planets. It is also suitable as a text or
supplementary text for upper undergraduate and postgraduate courses in
geophysics, geochemistry, and tectonics.

GEOFF DAVIES is a Senior Fellow in the Research School of Earth Sciences

at the Australian National University. He received B.Sc.(Hons.) and
M.Sc. degrees from Monash University, Australia, and his Ph.D. from the
California Institute of Technology. He was a postdoctoral fellow at
Harvard University and held faculty positions at the University of
Rochester and Washington University in St. Louis, before returning to his
home country. He is the author of over 80 scientific papers published in
leading international journals and was elected a Fellow of the American
Geophysical Union in 1992.

Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009

Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 129.15.14.53 on Sun Mar 29 14:35:44 BST 2015.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511605802
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2015
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009
Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 129.15.14.53 on Sun Mar 29 14:35:44 BST 2015.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511605802
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2015
Dynamic Earth
Plates, Plumes and Mantle Convection

GEOFFREY F. DAVIES
Australian National University

CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009

Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 129.15.14.53 on Sun Mar 29 14:35:44 BST 2015.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511605802
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2015
 PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia
Ruiz de Alarcon 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521590679

© Cambridge University Press 1999

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1999

Typeset in Times 10±/13pt, in 3B2 [KW]

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Davies, Geoffrey F. (Geoffrey Frederick)

Dynamic earth : plates, plumes, and mantle convection/ Geoffrey F. Davies.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0 521 59067 1 (hbk.). - ISBN 0 521 59933 4 (pbk.)
1. Earth-Mantle. 2. Geodynamics. I. Title.
QE509.4.D38 1999
551.1'16-dc21 98-51722 CIP

ISBN-13 978-0-521-59067-9 hardback

ISBN-10 0-521-59067-1 hardback

ISBN-13 978-0-521-59933-7 paperback

ISBN-10 0-521-59933-4 paperback

Transferred to digital printing 2005

Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009

Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 129.15.14.53 on Sun Mar 29 14:35:44 BST 2015.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511605802
Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2015