Mantle Convection and the State of the Earth's Interior

Introduction During 1983-1986, the four year period covered by this review, emphasis in the study of mantle convection shifted away from fluid mechanical analysis of simple systems with uniform material properties and simple geometries, toward analyzing the effects of more complicated, presumably more realistic models. This shift received impetus from developments in other branches of earth sciences, particularly seisinology, geodesy, geochemistry, and mineral physics, which began to provide more powerful observational constraints on mantle convection. The ability to address previously intractable problems like the origin of long-wavelength geoid anomalies attests to the power of this multidisciplinary approach. The stage is now set for rapid acceleration in our understanding of mantle dynamics through comparison of improved observations and more sophisticated models. This paper is organized primarily around what we consider to be important processes related to mantle convection and secondarily around important technical developments. Due to space limitations, it is impossible to do justice to all the important developments. Other reviews of mantle convection and the thermal state of the earth in-