Problems of global geodynamics

Abstract

Global geodynamics is determined by thermal convection in the mantle which manifests itself on the surface by movements, relief, heat flow, and volcanism. Thermal convection in the Earth is complicated by the fact that the lithosphere is broken into rigid plates, the crust is broken into six separate floating continents and a number of islands, on the mantle bottom there are two giant piles of heavy material, at high convection intensity the ascending convective flows acquire a plume shape, and phase transformations take place in the mantle. The impacts of many factors on the mantle structure have been thoroughly studied and fairly well understood. It is pertinent to reconcile the new data on phase transformations at depths of 650 to 700 km with the seismic data on the positions of these boundaries. The ultimate problem of global geodynamics has not yet been solved; the three-dimensional structure of the whole-mantle flows, consistent with the observations in geophysics, geochemistry, geology, and numerical modeling, is not known even on a semischematic level.