Summer study program in geophysical fluid dynamics : dynamic differentation

Abstract

Those attending G.F.D. 1984 were introduced to the novel topic of Geological Fluid Mechanics by our Principal Lecturer, Herbert Huppert. He presented his studies both as a discipline with recent fascinating successes, and as a challenge to his listeners to further isolate mathematically tractable examples of these multi-component flows. Geological Fluid Mechanics has been the responsible process for the formation and modification of most of the geological objects studied today. The dynamics of fluid mixtures in magma chambers, the changing fluid boundary conditions and composition during selective crystallization of parts of the melt, and the separation of fluid fractions of different density and viscosity all represent areas in which quantitative theories are currently being tested. However, equally many areas, including convection mechanisms in the Earth's core and quantitative predictions for upper mantle motion, resist simplistic modeling.