Courses:

When you click the Amazon logo to the left of any citation and purchase the book (or other media) from Amazon.com, MIT OpenCourseWare will receive up to 10% of this purchase and any other purchases you make during that visit. This will not increase the cost of your purchase. Links provided are to the US Amazon site, but you can also support OCW through Amazon sites in other regions. Learn more.

This course deals with mechanics of deformation of the crust and mantle, with emphasis on the importance of different rheological descriptions: brittle, elastic, linear and nonlinear fluids, and viscoelastic.

Applications of Continuum Mechanics to Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (12.005) and either Advanced Calculus for Engineers (18.075) or Mathematical Methods for Engineers I (18.085)

Turcotte, D. L., and J. Schubert. Geodynamics. 2nd ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780521666244.

Malvern, L. E. Introduction to the Mechanics of a Continuous Medium. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1977. ISBN: 9780134876030.

Ranalli, G. Rheology of the Earth. New York, NY: Springer; 2nd ed. edition, 1995. ISBN: 9780412546709.

Problem sets will be given out approximately weekly. We will also discuss papers from journals. There will be a take-home final exam.

Grades will be based 2/3 on the homework, 1/3 on the final.

You are encouraged to discuss problem sets to help each other on approaches, etc. But do not copy answers - work them out yourself. Do not discuss the exam.