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

Global Inventory and Characterization of Pyroclastic Deposits on Mercury: New Insights into Pyroclastic Activity from MESSENGER Orbital Data

Carolyn M. Ernst, Brett W. Denevi, Scott L. Murchie, Olivier S. Barnouin, Nancy L. Chabot, James W. Head, Christian Klimczak, Gregory A. Neumann, Louise M. Prockter, Mark S. Robinson, Sean C. Solomon, and Thomas R. Watters, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA (carolyn.ernst@jhuapl.edu); Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA; Planetary Geodynamics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA; Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA.

Volcanic Plains in Caloris Basin: Thickness, Timing, and What Lies Beneath

Topography of Equatorial Mercury from MESSENGER Flybys 1 and 2

Global and Regional Resolution Studies of Magellan Gravity Data: Implications for Inferring Lithospheric Thickness

For the first time we a PCA approach for the MESSENGER spectral data 
with new spectral data obtained in the Planetary Emissivity Laboratory 
(PEL) at the Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) in 
Berlin.

Sean C. Solomon

Papers

Global Inventory and Characterization of Pyroclastic Deposits on Mercury: New Insights into Pyroclastic Activity from MESSENGER Orbital Data

Volcanic Plains in Caloris Basin: Thickness, Timing, and What Lies Beneath

Topography of Equatorial Mercury from MESSENGER Flybys 1 and 2

Global and Regional Resolution Studies of Magellan Gravity Data: Implications for Inferring Lithospheric Thickness

Combining High-Temperature Spectroscopy and Principal Component Analysis to Understand Mercury Surface Spectra from MESSENGER