A group of distinguished scientists contributes to the foundations of a new discipline in Earth sciences: earthquake thermodynamics and thermodynamics of formation of the Earth's interior structures. The predictive powers of thermodynamics are so great that those aspiring to model earthquake and the Earth's interior will certainly wish to be able to use the theory. Thermodynamics is our only method of understanding and predicting the behavior of many environmental, atmospheric, and geological processes. The need for Earth scientists to develop a functional knowledge of thermodynamic concepts and methodology is therefore urgent. Sources of an entropy increase the dissipative and self-organizing systems driving the evolution and dynamics of the Universe and Earth through irreversible processes. The non-linear interactions lead to the formation of fractal structures. From the structural phase transformations the important interior boundaries emerge.Non-linear interactions between the defects in solids lead the authors to develop the physics of continua with a dense distribution of defects. Disclinations and dislocations interact during a slow evolution as well as during rapid dynamic events, like earthquakes. Splitting the dynamic processes into the 2D fault done and 3D surrounding space brings a new tool for describing the slip nucleation and propagation along the earthquake faults. Seismic efficiency, rupture velocity, and complexity of seismic source zone are considered from different points of view, fracture band earthquake model is developed on the basis of thermodynamics of line defects, like dislocations. Earthquake thermodynamics offers us a microscopic model of earthquake sources.Physics of defects helps the authors decscribe and explain a number of precursory phenomena caused by the buildup of stresses. Anomalies in electric polarization and electromagnetic radiation prior to earthquakes are considered from this point of view. Through the thermodynamic approach, the authors arrive at the fascinating question of posssibility of earthquake prediction. In general, the Earth is considered here as a multicomponent system. Transport phenomena as well as wave propagation and shock waves are considered in this system subjected also to chemical and phase transformations.

Constitution of the Earth's Interior discusses the physical and evolutionary principles connecting various elements of the knowledge about structure and dynamics of the Earth's interior. This work is divided into eight chapters that primarily focus on the physical, chemical, and petrological state. This text contains general data on a general stationary model, which is described by equations of state combining the basic parameters, including pressure, temperature, density, gravity acceleration, and mineral composition within the Earth's interior. Considerable chapters concern the chemical and petrological composition of the matter in the Earth's interior. The remaining chapters describe models containing inhomogeneities used to illustrate processes connected with phase transitions. This book will be of great value to geologists, physicists, and researchers.

The book summarizes the results of the experimental studies of phase relations in the chemical systems relevant to Earth, carried out by the author in a time period of over 20 years between 1979 and 2001. It is based on 1000 piston-cylinder experiments at pressures up to 4 GPa, and close to 700 experiments carried out with a multi-anvil apparatus at pressures up to 24 GPA. This is the largest published collection of calculated phase diagrams for the chemical systems relevant to Earth. This is also the first time that the phase relations at the relatively low pressures of the lithospheric mantle, mainly applicable to the experimental thermobarometry of metamorphic rocks and mantle xenoliths, are seamlessly integrated with the phase relations of the sublithospheric upper mantle and the uppermost lower mantle, primarily applicable to inclusions in diamond and schocked meteorites. "Tibor Gasparik has devoted his career to determining the high-pressure, high-temperature phase relations of the geologically important Sodium-Calcium-Magnesium-Aluminium-Silicon (NCMAS) oxide system. This book is his opus magnum, summarizing more than 1700 experiments in over 120 figures. ... I have found Phase Diagrams for Geoscientists to be a useful first port-of-call for finding the P-T stability fields ... and I can recommend the book as a reference for geoscientists requiring an overview of the stable phase assemblages in the top 700 km of the Earth." (David Dobson, Geological Magazine, Vol. 142 (2), 2005)

Carbon in Earth's fluid envelopes - the atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, plays a fundamental role in our planet's climate system and a central role in biology, the environment, and the economy of earth system. The source and original quantity of carbon in our planet is uncertain, as are the identities and relative importance of early chemical processes associated with planetary differentiation. Numerous lines of evidence point to the early and continuing exchange of substantial carbon between Earth's surface and its interior, including diamonds, carbon-rich mantle-derived magmas, carbonate rocks in subduction zones and springs carrying deeply sourced carbon-bearing gases. Thus, there is little doubt that a substantial amount of carbon resides in our planet's interior. Yet, while we know it must be present, carbon's forms, transformations and movements at conditions relevant to the interiors of Earth and other planets remain uncertain and untapped. Volume highlights include: - Reviews key, general topics, such as carbonate minerals, the deep carbon cycle, and carbon in magmas or fluids - Describes new results at the frontiers of the field with presenting results on carbon in minerals, melts, and fluids at extreme conditions of planetary interiors - Brings together emerging insights into carbon's forms, transformations and movements through study of the dynamics, structure, stability and reactivity of carbon-based natural materials - Reviews emerging new insights into the properties of allied substances that carry carbon, into the rates of chemical and physical transformations, and into the complex interactions between moving fluids, magmas, and rocks to the interiors of Earth and other planets - Spans the various chemical redox states of carbon, from reduced hydrocarbons to zero-valent diamond and graphite to oxidized CO2 and carbonates - Captures and synthesizes the exciting results of recent, focused efforts in an emerging scientific discipline - Reports advances over the last decade that have led to a major leap forward in our understanding of carbon science - Compiles the range of methods that can be tapped tap from the deep carbon community, which includes experimentalists, first principles theorists, thermodynamic modelers and geodynamicists - Represents a reference point for future deep carbon science research Carbon in Planetary Interiors will be a valuable resource for researchers and students who study the Earth's interior. The topics of this volume are interdisciplinary, and therefore will be useful to professionals from a wide variety of fields in the Earth Sciences, such as mineral physics, petrology, geochemistry, experimentalists, first principles theorists, thermodynamics, material science, chemistry, geophysics and geodynamics.

Introduction to the Physics of the Earth's Interior describes the structure, composition and temperature of the deep Earth in one comprehensive volume. This new edition of a successful textbook has been enlarged and fully updated, taking into account the considerable experimental and theoretical progress recently made in understanding the inner structure of the Earth. Like the first edition, this will be a useful textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in geophysics and mineralogy. It will also be of great value to researchers in earth sciences, physics and materials sciences.

The Earth's Core, Second Edition is a six-chapter book that begins with the general physical properties of the Earth, with emphasis on the core-mantle boundary. This edition discusses the accretion mechanism, heat sources in the early Earth, time of core formation, thermal regime of the Earth, melting-point depth curves, and thermal consequences of iron-alloy core. Subsequent chapters focus on reversals of the Earth's magnetic field; the energetics and the constitution of the Earth's core; and the cores of the Moon and other planets. The role of the Earth's core is vital to the understanding of many geophysical phenomena. It is the seat of the Earth's magnetic field and is responsible as well to some variations in the length of the day.

The knowledge on materials of the Earth's interior has largely increased during the last twenty years owing to the development of high-pressure and high temperature techniques for material syntheses. We have now reasonable ideas on the major constituents of down to the lower mantle the Earth's interior in connection to the velocities of seismic waves. However, the studies of the materials science on the Earth have practically confined within the scope of phase equilibria to date, aiming at the elucidation of the static state of the present Earth. Of course, it is the ultimate goal for the earth-scientists to reveal the process of formation of the Earth and the subsequent changes occuring to the present. With the intention to approach this goal, a research program titled "Dynamic Processes of Material Transport and Transformation in the Earth's Interior" was organized in 1985 under the collaboration of geoscientists, material-scientists, physicists and chemists. The program was took effect during the period from 1986 to 1988 with the support of Grant-in-Aids for Special Research Project of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. Eleven research groups were organized and more than one hundred scientists contributed in this project. The field covered by the project ranged from the atomic scale changes in individual minerals to the large scale transport and transformation of materials concerned with the dynamics of magma and mantle materials.

This book is Open Access. A digital copy can be downloaded for free from Wiley Online Library. Explores the behavior of carbon in minerals, melts, and fluids under extreme conditions Carbon trapped in diamonds and carbonate-bearing rocks in subduction zones are examples of the continuing exchange of substantial carbon between Earth’s surface and its interior. However, there is still much to learn about the forms, transformations, and movements of carbon deep inside the Earth. Carbon in Earth's Interior presents recent research on the physical and chemical behavior of carbon-bearing materials and serves as a reference point for future carbon science research. Volume highlights include: Data from mineral physics, petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, and geodynamics Research on the deep carbon cycle and carbon in magmas or fluids Dynamics, structure, stability, and reactivity of carbon-based natural materials Properties of allied substances that carry carbon Rates of chemical and physical transformations of carbon The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. Its publications disseminate scientific knowledge and provide resources for researchers, students, and professionals.