By
Thorne Lay, University of Santa Cruz, CA
Description
This book is a paperback reprint of Advances in Geophysics, Volume 35 (1994, Academic Press). It provides an overview of the dramatic
progress made in illuminating the properties of deep slabs and the surrounding mantle since the introduction of the plate tectonics model
to the earth sciences more than 25 years ago. The thermal and chemical characteristics of the subducted lithosphere are determined through
thermal and petrological modeling, with seismological observations providing critical constraints on model parameters. Down-wellings
of the oceanic lithosphere play a critical role in plate tectonics by recycling to the mantle material that has risen at mid-ocean ridges
and cooled at the earth's surface. To assist future efforts in developing detailed thermal and petrological models of oceanic lithosphere
down-wellings, this volume includes a comprehensive review of seismological observations and models. A range of seismological procedures
are considered, from travel time constraints on seismic velocity anomalies in the subducting lithospheric slabs, to wave conversions
and reflections off internal and external slab boundaries. An extensive reference list will be useful to earth science researchers and
seismological specialists as a directory to most of the critical literature on slab structure.
Audience:
Undergraduates in geophysics, graduate students, and academics involved with seismology, earthquake geology, and tectonics.
