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Harriet Lau on the Motions of the Earth on Timescales from Hours to Millennia

Harriet Lau on the Motions of the Earth on Timescales from Hours to Millennia

FromGeology Bites


Harriet Lau on the Motions of the Earth on Timescales from Hours to Millennia

FromGeology Bites

ratings:
Length:
22 minutes
Released:
Jun 12, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

The subfield of geology called geodynamics most commonly refers to the motions associated with convection in the mantle.   These are slow by human standards and lead to phenomena such as plate motions, seafloor spreading, mountain building, and volcanos.  But the Earth’s interior actually undergoes motion on a whole range of timescales.  The shortest of these occurs within seismic waves – in which the vibrations triggered by earthquakes cause tiny elastic movements of the material as they pass through.  And the longest of these are the large-scale viscous motions of the convecting mantle driven by the temperature difference between the bottom and the top of the mantle.  But there are a whole range of intermediate timescale motions lasting, hours, days, years, and millennia.  
Harriet Lau is an Assistant Professor in Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley.  In this episode the describes the motions of the solid Earth that take place over these intermediate timescales and explains what they can reveal about the Earth’s interior.
For podcast illustrations and to learn more about Geology Bites, go to geologybites.com.  Follow Geology Bites on Twitter @geology_bites, @oliverstrimpel, and on Instagram oliverstrimpel.
Released:
Jun 12, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (87)

What moves the continents, creates mountains, swallows up the sea floor, makes volcanoes erupt, triggers earthquakes, and imprints ancient climates into the rocks? Oliver Strimpel, a former astrophysicist and museum director asks leading researchers to divulge what they have discovered and how they did it. To learn more about the series, and see images that support the podcasts, go to geologybites.com. Instagram: @GeologyBites Twitter: @geology_bites Email: geologybitespodcast@gmail.com