Geodynamics / Edition 3

by Donald Turcotte, Gerald Schubert

Overview

Essential reading for any Earth scientist, this classic textbook has been providing advanced undergraduate and graduate students with the fundamentals needed to develop a quantitative understanding of the physical processes of the solid earth for over thirty years. This third edition has two completely new chapters covering numerical modelling and geophysical MATLAB® applications, and the text is now supported by a suite of online MATLAB® codes that will enable students to grasp the practical aspects of computational modelling. The book has been brought fully up to date with the inclusion of new material on planetary geophysics and other cutting edge topics. Exercises within the text allow students to put the theory into practice as they progress through each chapter and carefully selected further reading sections guide and encourage them to delve deeper into topics of interest. Answers to problems available within the book and also online, for self-testing, complete the textbook package.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521186230
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/07/2014
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	636
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Donald L. Turcotte is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geology, University of California, Davis. In addition to this book, he is author or co-author of 3 books and over 400 research papers, including Fractals and Chaos in Geology and Geophysics (Cambridge University Press, 1992 and 1997) and Mantle Convection in the Earth and Planets (with Gerald Schubert and Peter Olson, Cambridge University Press, 2001). Professor Turcotte is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Honorary Fellow of the European Union of Geosciences, and Fellow of the Geological Society of America, and is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the recipient of several medals, including the Day Medal of the Geological Society of America, the Wegener Medal of the European Union of Geosciences, the Bowie and Whitten Medals of the American Geophysical Union, the Regents (New York State) Medal of Excellence, and Caltech's Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Gerald Schubert is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is co-author with Donald Turcotte and Peter Olson of Mantle Convection in the Earth and Planets (Cambridge University Press, 2001) and author of over 530 research papers. He has participated in a number of NASA's planetary missions and has been on the editorial boards of many journals, including Icarus, the Journal of Geophysical Research, Geophysical Research Letters, and Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Professor Schubert is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a recipient of the Union's James B. MacElwane medal and the Harry H. Hess medal. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Table of Contents

Preface to the third edition; 1. Plate tectonics; 2. Stress and strain in solids; 3. Elasticity and flexure; 4. Heat transfer; 5. Gravity; 6. Fluid mechanics; 7. Rock rheology; 8. Faulting; 9. Flows in porous media; 10. Chemical geodynamics; 11. Fundamentals of MATLAB®-based numerical computation; 12. Geodynamical applications using MATLAB®; Appendix A. Symbols and units; Appendix B. Physical constants and properties; Appendix C. Answers to selected problems; Appendix D. MATLAB® solutions to selected problems; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Geodynamics continues to be the essential introduction to how the solid Earth evolves, through tectonic, volcanic and near-surface activity as well as processes deep within our planet. It sets the standard for rigor, clarity and accessibility to all geoscience students. With important new computational tools in this edition, providing hands-on programming examples in MATLAB, the authors have enhanced even further the enormous utility of this excellent book."
Professor David Bercovici, Yale University

"The definitive reference in the field; a unique book that is invaluable for students and researchers alike. The new chapters on numerics and computation are a great addition that bring it firmly into the modern computational era. Highly recommended!"
Professor Paul J. Tackley, ETH Zürich

"For the past thirty years, Geodynamics has served as the primary textbook in the field. The core of the book provides a deterministic, physics-based exposition of solid-earth processes at a mathematical level accessible to most students. This third edition’s new sections provide numerical solutions to problems in heat conduction, flexure, faulting, and thermal convection, making the connection between the fundamental analytical solutions and the more sophisticated numerical methods used by researchers today. The numerical examples can be run with MATLAB software or emulators such as Octave or Python."
Professor David T. Sandwell, University of California, San Diego

"Essential reading for any Earth scientist, this classic textbook has been providing advanced undergraduate and graduate students with the fundamentals needed to develop a quantitative understanding of the physical processes of the solid Earth for over thirty years. The book has been brought fully up to date with the inclusion of new material on planetary geophysics and other cutting edge topics."
GeoQ

From the Publisher

A textbook dealing with the fundamental physical processes needed for an understanding of plate tectonics and a variety of geological phenomena. It grew out of a series of courses at Cornell U. and UCLA for advanced undergraduate and graduate students with backgrounds in geology, geophysics, physics, mathematics, chemistry, and engineering. The second edition provides new information on evolving models and topics such as chemical geodynamics. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)