Mathematical Geophysics: A Survey of Recent Developments in Seismology and Geodynamics (Modern Approaches in Geophysics, 3)

The contributions to this book follow a topical trend. In several geophysical fields evidence is accumulating concerning the deviation of the earth's structure from radial symmetry. Seismology provides the most adequate resolution for revealing the earth's lateral inhomogeneity on a global to local scale. Lateral structure in the density distribution is also manifest in the earth's gravity field and in the geoid. Asphericity in physical parameters, generally supposed only to vary with the vertical coordinate, has a profound influence on geodynamics. The effects of these deviations from spherical symmetry concern in particular convection theory, post-glacial rebound and the dynamics of the lithosphere and upper mantle in general. At the 16th International Conference on Mathematical Geophysics which was held in Oosterbeek, the Netherlands, in 1986, the need was felt to present the state of the art. Several prospective authors were found interested to contribute to the present book. This Oosterbeek conference was one in a long series of topical conferences starting with the Upper Mantle Project Symposia on Geophysical Theory and Computers in the 1960s, and thence their successors, the conferences on Mathematical Geophysics, until the present. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Low frequency seismology and three-dimensional structure — observational aspects....Pages 1-30 Free-oscillation coupling theory....Pages 31-52 Surface waves in weakly heterogeneous media....Pages 53-75 On the connection between ray theory and scattering theory for surface waves....Pages 77-84 A hybrid solution for wave propagation problems in inhomogeneous media....Pages 85-116 Elastic wavefield inversion and the adjoint operation for the elastic wave equation....Pages 117-137 Subspace methods for large-scale nonlinear inversion....Pages 139-154 Imaging algorithms, accuracy and resolution in delay time tomography....Pages 155-187 The determination of fluid flow at the core surface from geomagnetic observations....Pages 189-208 Long wavelength features of mantle convection....Pages 209-226 Mean-field methods in mantle convection....Pages 227-264 Infinite Prandtl number spherical-shell convection....Pages 265-290 Lateral heterogeneity and the geoid: the importance of the surface kinematic constraints....Pages 291-323 Lithospheric thickness, Antarctic deglaciation history, and ocean basin discretization effects in a global model of postglacial sea level change....Pages 325-346 Non-uniqueness of lithospheric thickness estimates based on glacial rebound data along the east coast of North America....Pages 347-361 On the mechanics of plate boundary formation....Pages 363-387 Supercontinent breakup: effect on eustatic sea level and the oceanic heat flux....Pages 389-399 Back Matter....Pages 401-407