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Earth science

Inside history in depth

Nature volume 428, pages 476–477 (2004)Cite this article

The history of how Earth's interior evolved, and how it accounts for many aspects of our planet's behaviour, remains largely unwritten. Taking water into account could well help to explain a great deal more.

The basic divisions of Earth's internal structure (crust, mantle and core) have been known for a long time. But the evolutionary path that gave us this structure, and that provides the dynamics of plate tectonics, volcanism and magnetic-field generation, remains poorly understood. Why do we have plate tectonics? What is the nature and extent of melting deep within Earth? How does the core manage to keep generating such a richly complex magnetic field?

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Notes

  1. *CSEDI Science Plan Workshop. La Jolla, California, USA, 22–23 February 2004.

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  1. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    David Stevenson

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  1. David Stevenson
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Stevenson, D. Inside history in depth. Nature 428, 476–477 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/428476a

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