This chapter reviews the present-day composition of the continental crust, the methods employed to derive these estimates, and the implications of the continental crust composition for the formation of the continents, Earth differentiation, and its geochemical inventories. We review the composition of the upper, middle, and lower continental crust. We then examine the bulk crust composition and the implications of this composition for crust generation and modification processes. Finally, we compare the Earth's crust with those of the other terrestrial planets in our solar system and speculate about what unique processes on Earth have given rise to this unusual crustal distribution.

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Composition of the Continental Crust

Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing

This essential reference for graduate students and researchers provides a unified treatment of earthquakes and faulting as two aspects of brittle tectonics at different timescales. The intimate connection between the two is manifested in their scaling laws and populations, which evolve from fracture growth and interactions between fractures. The connection between faults and the seismicity generated is governed by the rate and state dependent friction laws - producing distinctive seismic styles of faulting and a gamut of earthquake phenomena including aftershocks, afterslip, earthquake triggering, and slow slip events. The third edition of this classic treatise presents a wealth of new topics and new observations. These include slow earthquake phenomena; friction of phyllosilicates, and at high sliding velocities; fault structures; relative roles of strong and seismogenic versus weak and creeping faults; dynamic triggering of earthquakes; oceanic earthquakes; megathrust earthquakes in subduction zones; deep earthquakes; and new observations of earthquake precursory phenomena.

The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting

This chapter should be cited as: Myhre, G., D. Shindell, F.-M. Bréon, W. Collins, J. Fuglestvedt, J. Huang, D. Koch, J.-F. Lamarque, D. Lee, B. Mendoza, T. Nakajima, A. Robock, G. Stephens, T. Takemura and H. Zhang, 2013: Anthropogenic and Natural Radiative Forcing. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. Coordinating Lead Authors: Gunnar Myhre (Norway), Drew Shindell (USA)

Anthropogenic and Natural Radiative Forcing

A global plate motion model, named NUVEL-1, which describes current plate motions between 12 rigid plates is described, with special attention given to the method, data, and assumptions used Tectonic implications of the patterns that emerged from the results are discussed It is shown that wide plate boundary zones can form not only within the continental lithosphere but also within the oceanic lithosphere; eg, between the Indian and Australian plates and between the North American and South American plates Results of the model also suggest small but significant diffuse deformation of the oceanic lithosphere, which may be confined to small awkwardly shaped salients of major plates

Current plate motions

Frank Preusker (1), Alexander Stark (1), Jürgen Oberst (1), Kris J. Becker (2), Mark E. Perry (3), and Sean C. Solomon (4,5). (1) German Aerospace Center, Institute of Planetary Research, D-12489 Berlin, Germany (Frank.Preusker@dlr.de); (2) Astrogeology Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA; (3) Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 21044, USA; (4) Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA; (5) Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA.

Topography of Mercury: A global model from MESSENGER orbital stereo mapping

Sean C. Solomon, Ralph L. McNutt, Jr., Peter D. Bedini, Brian J. Anderson, David T. Blewett, Larry G. Evans, Robert E. Gold, Stamatios M. Krimigis, Scott L. Murchie, Larry R. Nittler, Roger J. Phillips, Louise M. Prockter, James A. Slavin, and Maria T. Zuber, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road, N.W., Washington, DC 20015, USA (scs@dtm.ciw.edu); Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA; Computer Sciences Corporation, Lanham-Seabrook, MD 20706, USA; Academy of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece; Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA; Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02129, USA.

Mercury after Six Months of MESSENGER Orbital Observations

Stirring times for Mars

PLANET. Sean C. Solomon, Ralph L. McNutt, Jr., Brian J. Anderson, David T. Blewett, Larry G. Evans, Robert E. Gold, Stamatios M. Krimigis, Scott L. Murchie, Larry R. Nittler, Roger J. Phillips, Louise M. Prockter, James A. Slavin, Maria T. Zuber, and the MESSENGER Team, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road, N.W., Washington, DC 20015, USA (scs@dtm.ciw.edu); Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA; Computer Sciences Corporation, Lanham-Seabrook, MD 20706, USA; Academy of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece; Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA; Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02129, USA.

MESSENGER's Three Flybys of Mercury: An Emerging View of the Innermost Planet

EVOLUTION OF MERCURY’S CRUST Brett W Denevi, Mark S Robinson, David T Blewett, Deborah L Domingue, James W Head, III, Timothy J McCoy, Ralph L McNutt, Jr, Scott L Murchie, and Sean C Solomon School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287 Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland, 20723 Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015

Sean C. Solomon

Papers

Topography of Mercury: A global model from MESSENGER orbital stereo mapping

Mercury after Six Months of MESSENGER Orbital Observations

Stirring times for Mars

MESSENGER's Three Flybys of Mercury: An Emerging View of the Innermost Planet

MESSENGER Global Color Observations: Implications for the Composition and Evolution of Mercury's Crust