Earth's Core

Vernon F. Cormier is a Professor of Physics and Geophysics at the University of Connecticut. He received a BS from the California Institute of Technology and a PhD from Columbia University. His research has specialized in seismic wave propagation and deep Earth structure. He has served as an editor for the Geophysical Journal International and Physics of the Earth’s Interior. Among services to professional societies he has served the Seismological Society of America as Vice President and the American Geophysical Union as Secretary of the Seismology Section and Chair of the Study of Earth’s Deep Interior (SEDI) focus group. Michael I. Bergman is the Emily H. Fisher Professor of Physics at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, where he teaches courses ranging from Introduction to Geology to Solid-state Physics to a field course in Volcanology on the island of Montserrrat. He earned a BA from Columbia University and a PhD from MIT. His research has focused on the solidification and deformation of metals, alloys, and aqueous solutions, with applications to Earth’s core and sea ice. He is the recipient of the Doornbos Prize for research on the deep Earth by a beginning investigator, has been the long-standing secretary of SEDI, and has served as guest editor for several journals. Peter L. Olson is an adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico. He earned a BA from the University of Colorado and a PhD from the University of California Berkeley. His research focuses on the dynamics of Earth and other planets. He co-authored a book on convection in planetary mantles and served on editorial boards of numerous scientific journals. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the US National Academy of Sciences, and received the Petrus Peregrinus Medal from the European Geosciences Union and the Inge Lehmann Medal from the American Geophysical Union.

1. Radial structure of Earth’s core 2. Chemical and physical state of the core 3. Geodynamo and geomagnetic basics 4. Outer core dynamics 5. Boundary regions 6. Inner core explored with seismology 7. Inner core dynamics 8. Formation and evolution of the core 9. Future research goals