Lithospheric Discontinuities

The origin and evolution of our continents, especially in the old Archean regions, remains a grand challenge in the modern Earth Science community. Deciphering the history, internal dynamics, and evolution in the continental lithosphere can shed light on how the crust formed, how plate tectonics began, and how our continents became habitable. In the modern world, this information can improve our abilities to monitor earthquakes tsunamis and volcanos, and consequently alleviate the effects of these natural hazards. Up to date however, the internal structure of continents is still poorly understood. With the releasing of ten “grand challenges” of modern seismology, the research topic of the lithosphere-asthenosphere-boundary has remained a hotspot. Yet consensus on the nature of these lithospheric discontinuities are however missing, and their origin is still vigorously debated.

Lithospheric Discontinuities provides a multidisciplinary overview of fine scale layering within the continental lithosphere, that can assist with interpreting the layering feature in different geological contexts in terms of continent origin and evolution.

The topics in this volume include:

- field observations, laboratory experiments, and geodynamic predictions
- integration of the physical and chemical processes as part of the time-evolution of the continent/asthenosphere interaction
- investigations of mantle fabrics in response to various mantle deformation processes, of fluid distribution using geophysical observations, and thermal and viscosity constraints from dynamic modeling 

Lithospheric Discontinuities is a multidisciplinary volume aiming at both graduate students and researchers including geochemists, geologists, geophysics, mineralogists, geodynamists, and petrologists.

Huaiyu Yuan, Macquarie University, Australia??

Barbara Romanowicz, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Alan G. Jones, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Ireland