
The Earth's Mantle: Composition, Structure, and Evolution
Author(s) -
Pulliam Jay
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/99eo00088
Subject(s) - mantle (geology) , timeline , tribute , earth science , geology , structure of the earth , mantle convection , accretion (finance) , geophysics , history , physics , art history , paleontology , astrophysics , archaeology , tectonics , subduction
Former colleagues at the Australian National University (ANU) prepared The Earths Mantle: Composition, Structure, and Evolution and dedicated it to the late Professor A. E. (“Ted”) Ringwood. Ringwood's efforts were critical to the formation of the Research School of Earth Sciences at ANU, so a volume of topical research conducted at the school is a fitting tribute. The editor's stated goals for the book are that it “be up‐to‐date, and forward‐looking, yet thoroughly readable.” The authors have succeeded admirably in reaching these goals and the result should prove helpful to graduate students and interested researchers. The Earth's Mantle consists of 11 papers divided into three sections: Accretion and Differentiation of the Earth, Dynamics and Evolution of the Earth's Mantle, and Structure and Mechanical Behaviour of the Modern Mantle. In the first, and longest, paper, the authors review the evidence for models of the Earth's bulk composition, from initial accretion through the formation of the core. The authors of the next paper explore the timeline of accretion and differentiation from an isotopic perspective, and those of the next discuss the noble‐gas component of the Earth and evidence for the existence of distinct chemical reservoirs in the mantle.