The presence of a viscous boundary layer under the solid crust of a neutron star dramatically increases the viscous damping rate of the fluid r-modes. We improve previous estimates of this damping rate by including the effect of the Coriolis force on the boundary-layer eigenfunction and by using more realistic neutron-star models. If the crust is assumed to be perfectly rigid, the gravitational...

Marie and intermediate granulite xenoliths, collected from Cenozoic alkali basalts, provide samples of the lower crust in western Saudi Arabia. The xenoliths are metaigneous two-pyroxene and garnet granulites. Mineral and whole rock compositions are inconsistent with origin from Red Sea rift-reIated basalts, and are compatible with origin from island arc calc-alkatine and low-potassium tholeiit...

[1] The discovery of terrestrial-scale extrasolar planets, and their calculated abundance in the galaxy, has prompted speculation on their surface conditions and thermal structure. Both are dependent on the tectonic regime of a planet, which is itself a function of the balance between driving forces, and the resistive strength of the lithosphere. Here we use mantle convection simulations to sho...

The boundary between the crust and the mantle was discovered by Mohorovicic in 1909 under the European continent. Subsquent research in this century established the major differences between the continental and oceanic crust; a typical thickness for the continental crust is 30-50 km while a typical thickness for me oceanic crusts is 6 km. In terms of history the continental crust contains a muc...

Introduction: According to the canonical lunar magma ocean (LMO) model, ferroan anorthosites (FANs) were part of the lunar anorthosite crust formed via plagioclase flotation and subsequent solidification in a globally distributed LMO [1-4]. The solidification time for a globally distributed LMO is model dependent and ranges from 10 4-10 8 yrs [3,5,6]. At a given time during lunar crust formatio...

[1] We gathered seismic refraction and wide-angle reflection data from several active source experiments that occurred along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near 35!N and constructed three-dimensional anisotropic tomographic images of the crust and upper mantle velocity structure and crustal thickness. The tomographic images reveal anomalously thick crust (8–9 km) and a low-velocity ‘‘bull’s-eye’’, from...

The internal properties of the neutron star crust can be probed by observing the epoch of thermal relaxation. After the supernova explosion, powerful neutrino emission quickly cools the stellar core, while the crust stays hot. The cooling wave then propagates through the crust, due to its finite thermal conductivity. When the cooling wave reaches the surface (age 10−100 yr), the effective tempe...

Recent observations of quasi-periodic oscillations in the aftermath of giant flares in soft gamma-ray repeaters suggest a close coupling between the seismic motion of the crust after a major quake and the modes of oscillations in a magnetar. In this paper we consider the purely elastic modes of oscillation in the crust of a neutron star in the relativistic Cowling approximation (disregarding an...