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Inverse modeling in geodynamics

Class at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
NGEO102

Syllabus

1. Rheological properties of crust and mantle. Viscosity, elasticity, plasticity, brittle failure. Isostasy, elastic lithosphere, dynamic topography.

2. Gravity anomalies and their relationship to mantle density and topography. Admittance. Sesimic tomography.

3. Dynamic geoid and its relationship to viscosity. Spectral solution of the forward problem and methods to solve the inversion for viscosity.

4. Elastic lithosphere and determining its thickness in spherical geometry. More complex behavior of lithosphere. Application to single-plate terrestrial planets.

5. Linear viscoelasticity, Eulerian and Lagrangian approach. Postglacial rebound and inversions of see-level data for viscosity.

6. Rotation of the Earth. True polar wander. The Liouville equations and internal dynamics of the Earth.

7. Combining seismic and gravity data in determining structure of crust. Seismic anisotropy. Heat flux measurements.

Annotation

Inversion of dynamic topography and geoid for mantle viscosity, analyses of see-level data and their relationship to postglacial rebound, inversions of gravity and seismic data to determine the crustal structure and others are classical problems used in contemporary geodynamics research. The lecture presents the basic theory of these inverse problems, discuss their advantages and limitations and gives overview about the basic literature in this field.