New Theory of the Earth

Don L. Anderson is Professor (Emeritus) of Geophysics in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He received his B.S. and D.Sc. (Hon) in Geophysics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mathematics and Geophysics from Caltech, and Doctors Honoris Causa from the Sorbonne, University of Paris. He was Director of the Seismological Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology from 1967-1989. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He received the Emil Wiechert Medal of the German Geophysical Society, the Arthur L. Day Gold Medal of the Geological Society of America, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Bowie Medal of the American Geophysical Union, the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science and the National Medal of Science. He was installed in the RPI Hall of Fame in 2005. He is a Past President of the American Geophysical Union. Professor Anderson's research centers on the origin, evolution, structure and composition of Earth and other planets, and integrates seismological, solid state physics, geochemical and petrological data. He is also interested in the philosophy and logic of science.

Preface; Part I. Planetary Perspective: 1. Origin and early history; 2. Comparative planetology; 3. Building blocks of planets; Part II. Earth: The Dynamic Planet: 4. Outer shells of Earth; 5. Eclogite engine; 6. Shape of the Earth; 7. Convection and complexity; Part III. Radial and Lateral Structure: 8. Let's take it from the top; crust and upper mantle; 9. A laminated lumpy mantle; 10. The bowels of the Earth; 11. Geotomography; heterogeneity of the mantle; Part IV. Sampling Earth: 12. Statistics and other damned lies; 13. Making an Earth; 14. Magmas - windows into the mantle; 15. The hard rock cafe; 16. Noble gas isotopes; 17. The other isotopes; Part V. Mineral Physics: 18. Elasticity and solid state geophysics; 19. Dissipation; 20. Anisotropy; fabric of the mantle; 21. Nonelastic and transport properties; 22. Squeezing; phase changes and mantle mineralogy; Part VI. Origin and Evolution of Layers and Blobs: 23. The upper mantle; 24. The nature and cause of mantle heterogeneity; 25. Crystallization of the mantle; Part VII. Energetics: 26. Terrestrial heat flow; 27. Thermal history; Appendix; Index.