HR: 0800h
AN: ED51A-0009    [Abstracts]
TI: Strange Features of the Earth's Surface Explained: An Interactive Poster
AU: * Kellogg, J B
EM: kellogg@ess.ucla.edu
AF: University of California, Los Angeles, 595 Charles Young Drive, East, Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States
AU: Becker, T W
EM: twb@usc.edu
AF: University of Southern California, Department of Earth Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740 United States
AB: The great power of the plate tectonic theory lies in its ability to explain a large numer of diverse observations: the ocean-continental dichotemy, the major features of the sea floor topography, Wadati-Benioff zones, etc. A cursory examination of a physiographic map, however, reveals features that are not trivially explained by plate tectonics, e.g. the different radii of curvature of the island arcs and the bend in the Hawaiian-Emporer chain. This interactive poster aims to establish the current state of knowledge about the Earth's surface and the dynamic processes that control it. The poster itself consists simply of a map of the Earth, accompanied by two sets of Post-It notes. The first set are to be used by viewers to identify problematica for which they would like an explanation. The second set are to be used by others who believe they have explanations, and hopefully key references to support them. The follow-up to this poster will be a "clickable" online map comprising both the observations and their explanations. We hope that this will provide both educators and researchers with an accurate, up-to-date picture of our current state of understanding of the Earth's first-order features.
DE: 8120 Dynamics of lithosphere and mantle--general
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting