Ebook: Flow and Creep in the Solar System: Observations, Modeling and Theory

The NATO ASI held in the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, June 17-28, 1991 was, we believe, the first attempt to bring together geoscientists from all the disciplines related to the solar system where fluid flow is a fundamental phenomenon. The various aspects of flow discussed at the meeting ranged from the flow of ice in glaciers, through motion of the solar wind, to the effects of flow in the Earth's mantle as seen in surface phenomena. A major connecting theme is the role played by convection. For a previous attempt to review the various ways in which convection plays an important role in natural phenomena one must go back to an early comprehensive study by 1. Wasiutynski in "Astro­ physica Norvegica" vo1. 4, 1946. This work, little known now perhaps, was a pioneering study. In understanding the evolution of bodies of the solar system, from accretion to present-day processes, ranging from interplanetary plasma to fluid cores, the understanding of flow hydrodynamics is essentia1. From the large scale in planetary atmospheres to geological processes, such as those seen in magma chambers on the Earth, one is dealing with thermal or chemical convection. Count Rumford, the founder of the Royal Institution, studied thermal convection experimentally and realized its practical importance in domestic contexts.

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The conference which generated the papers presented in this volume was very broad in scope, covering motions, both fluid and solid state, ranging from the scale of the solar corona to flow in sedimentary basins. The aims of this conference proceedings volume is to allow a comparison of these various flow regimes to obtain a fuller understanding of the processes and concepts involved. Much information concerning large scale motions within the planets is obtained from proxy records such as variations in magnetic fields and tectonic activity on the surface of the earth. However, the directly observed motions of the atmosphere, the oceans and ice are instructive in attempting to interpret these other records. The papers in this volume cover these and other disciplines to allow the reader to maintain a good perspective on the fluid motions taking place within, on and around the earth.