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Geological and Planetary Sciences (4180 words) |
 | Topics to be covered include a short survey of condensed-matter physics as it applies to planetary interiors, remote sensing of planetary interiors, planetary modeling, core formation, physics of ongoing differentiation, the role of mantle convection in thermal evolution, and generation of planetary magnetic fields. |
| Topics: exogenic surface processes, including impact, gravitational degradation, atmospheric modification of surfaces by wind and water, and the direct interaction of surfaces with plasmas; endogenic modification of surfaces by tectonics and volcanism; surface histories of Mercury, Venus, the moon, and Mars; the surfaces of icy bodies. |
| Topics: concepts of elastic and shock propagation in single and polycrystalline solids and in fluids, and their relation to various thermodynamic processes; phase changes, dynamic yielding, shock metamorphism, high-pressure electrical properties of minerals, and application of shock and ultrasonic equation-of-state data to Earth and planetary interiors. |
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Plate tectonics (1987 words) |
| Plate tectonics (from the Greek for "builder", τεκτων (tekton)) is a theory of geology developed to explain the phenomenon of continental drift. |
| In the theory of plate tectonics the outermost part of the Earth's interior is made up of two layers, the outer lithosphere and the inner asthenosphere. |
| Plate boundaries are the home of the majority of the world's active volcanoes with the Pacific Plate's Ring of Fire being most active and famous. |
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