Thread: AGU Special Session Invitation

Started: 2016-07-01 02:00:57
Last activity: 2016-07-01 02:00:57
Topics: AGU Meetings
Fiona Darbyshire
2016-07-01 02:00:57
Dear Colleagues,

We would like to draw your attention to a special session that we have put together for the upcoming AGU Fall Meeting. Session description is as follows:

T008: Exploring the theory of plate tectonics: the nature and role of the mantle lithosphere.

Fifty years after Tuzo Wilson inquired whether the Atlantic closed and then reopened, evidence has accumulated for aspects of the Earth system's behavior that do not fit neatly into the conventional theory of plate tectonics. In particular, the role of the mantle lithosphere appears to be far more complex than envisaged by the framework of rigid plates and well-defined plate boundaries. Compared to the overlying crust, the structure of the mantle lithosphere (including the location of the lower boundary) and its evolution (especially for the oldest cratons) remain poorly constrained, while geophysical imaging techniques have increasingly found heterogeneities to be ubiquitous. We invite contributions to discuss the role of the mantle lithosphere in past, present and future plate tectonics, including commentary on composition, strength, and evolution. Studies from disciplines that include, but are not limited to, seismology, geodynamics, gravity and geochemistry are welcome.

This is a session joint-listed with DI (Study of the Earth's Deep Interior), S (Seismology) and V (Volcanology, Gechemistry and Petrology), and we would like to encourage you to submit an abstract to this multi-discplinary session.

Fiona Darbyshire

-on behalf of primary convenor Philip Heron and co-convenors Fiona Darbyshire, Vadim Levin and Russell Pysklywec.


11:12:32 v.01697673