Plate tectonics and mantle convection 1100-2GG11

Scopes of the course

-Presentation of the recent achievements to students of Earth Sciences.

-Description of the global tectonic processes operating in the interior and on the surface of the Earth.

-Description of the numerical method of modelling of the some considered processes.

-Encouragement students to study Earth sciences and planetology. Integration of students and scientists interested in Earth sciences.

The course is addressed to students of Earth Sciences therefore the course is focused on he physics of the processes without advanced mathematical methods. Discussion of mathematical methods are considerably reduced. The mathematical and numerical methods will be presented in .

Program:
1 Origin of the Solar System (processes in stars, origin of chemical elements, meteoroids and their classification, mineralogy, methods of radioacitive dating, accretion of the Earth and other planets, collisions of proto-planets, origin of Moon, iron catastrophe).
2. Structure of the Earth and terrestrial planets (surfaces of the Earth and planets, basic minerals and rocks, geospheres: crust, upper mantle, phase changes regions, lower mantle, D”, outer core, inner core)

3. Large scale tectonic processes (tectonic motions, volcanism, heat sources, lithosphere and asthenosphere, continental drift, plate tectonics).

4. Thermal convection (physical basis of convection, dimensionless number describing convection, method of modeling, basic properties of convection).

5. Thermal convection in mantles of the Earth and planets (reological properties of the mantle rocks, Maxwell body, radiogenic heat, short-lived and long-lived radioactive elements, role of various ways of heating, role of temperature and pressure dependent viscosity and other properties of the planetary mantle, numerical models).

6. Interaction of mantle convection and lithosphere (mantle plumes and volcanism, convection as mechanism of continental drift, earthquakes, plate tectonic and mantle convection, delamination of the lithosphere, observation of convective flow in the mantle – seismic tomography).

7. Plate tectonics – spreading centers (oceanic ridges and generation of the crust and lithosphere, neovolcanic zone, magma differentiation).

8. Plate tectonics – subduction zones (oceanic trenches and process of subduction, Benioff zones, volcanism of the subduction zones, origin of mountains and the growth of continents).

9. Evolution of convection and tectonic processes (evolutionary factors of convection, Wilson cycles, assembling and destruction of supercontinents, gravitational differentiation, D” layer and its role).

10. Tectonics and convection in the chosen planets (Venus, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Io, Europa, Vesta, Ceres, one-plate tectonics and its properties, catastrophic resurfacing on Venus, mascons, tidal heating and its role for satellites of giant planets).

11 Future research and problems to solve (new methods in Earth’s science, first billion of year of the Earth, plate tectonics as a result of mantle convection, hypotheses about D” and other problems).