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Scott D. King

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Professor of Geophysics
Ph.D. California Institute of Technology
 
If you are interested in graduate study in geodynamics, please contact me. 

Research
 Teaching
 Images and Movies
 Publications
 Vita (in pdf format)
Group Pictures
 Fishing
 ConMan
 Links
 Contact

Research

My research focuses on the dynamics and evolution of the interior of the terrestrial planets.
While motions in the interior of the Earth are almost imperceptible on human time scales, the process by which the Earth cools is the driving force behind most tectonic and volcanic activity.  Mantle convection and plate motions are part of a linked system.   I use the computer as my laboratory and computer models as tools for hypothesis testing.   The observations constraining the dynamics of the Earth's interior come from seismology, mineral physics. geochemistry, geodesy, and geology.   I have projects working on subduction zones, hotspots, and plate reorganizations.   Because many of these problems require large computer calculations, other aspects of my research interests include improving the efficiency of computations and visualization of the results.

I am one of the authors of ConMan, a 2D finite element code for convection in creeping fluids appropriate for mantle convection originally written in the late 1980's.   Over the years, ConMan has been extensively overhauled and a variety of improvements have been made by myself and many other individuals.  As they say, anything free comes with no guarantees; however, ConMan has been benchmarked against a number of other codes and various analytic solutions. You can obtain a fairly standard, clean, documented version of ConMan from the CIG software respository.  

I am also interested in the other terrestrial planets. Mars is particularly intriguing because the origin and evolution of two of the largest features (Tharsis rise and the crustal dichotomy) are poorly understood.   Mercury is interesting because even though it is quite small, there is (apparently) an active core dynamo.   Venus is similar in size to Earth but has no plate tectonics.

Other websites of interest

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Teaching

Fall 2007: GEOS 6104 Introduction to Geodynamics

Spring 2008: GEOS 4984/5984 Planetary Science

Fall 2008: GEOS 5984 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

Spring 2009: GEOS 2984 Mission to the Planets

Fall 2009: GEOS 3114 Intro. Meteorology, GEOS 5124 Geodynamics

Spring 2010: GEOS 2014 Intro. Misson to the Planets, GEOS 5984 Planetary Science

Fall 2010: GEOS 3114 Intro. Meteorology
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Publications (with links)

  1. King, S. D., A community benchmark for 2-D Cartesian compressible convection in the Earth's mantle, Geophys. J. Int., 180, 73-87, 2010.

  2. King, S. D., On topography and geoid from 2D stagnant-lid convection calculations, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 10, Q3002, 2009.

  3. Lee, C., and King, S. D., Effect of mantle compressibility on the thermal and flow structures of the subduction zones, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 10, Q1006, 2009.

  4. van Keken, P.E., Currie, C., King, S.D., Behn, M.D., Canioncle, A., He, J., Katz, R.F., Lin, S.-C., Parmentier, E.M., Spiegelman, M., and Wang, K., A community benchmark for subduction zone modeling, Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 171, 187-197, 2008.

  5. King, S. D., Pattern of Lobate Scarps on Mercury's Surface Reproduced by a Model of Mantle Convection, Nature Geosci., 1, 229-232, 2008.

  6. King, S. D., Slab Sliding Away, Nature (News & Views), 451, 899-900, 2008

  7. King, S. D. and H. L. Redmond, The Structure of Thermal Plumes and Geophysical Observations, in Foulger, G.R. and Jurdy, D., Plates, Plumes & Planetary Processes, GSA Special Publication, 430, 103-120, 2007.

  8. King, S. D. Mantle Downwellings and the Fate of Subducting Slabs: Constraints from Seismology, Geoid, Topography, Geochemistry, and Petrology, Treatise on Geophysics, Volume 7, Mantle Dynamics, pp. 325-370, 2007.

  9. Redmond, H. L and S.D. King, Does mantle convection currently exist on Mercury? ,   Phys. Earth Planet. Int. 164, 221-231, 2007.

  10. King,  S. D.,  Hotspots and edge-driven Convection, Geology, 35, 223-226, 2007.

  11. King,  S. D.,  North Atlantic Topographic and Geoid Anomalies: The Result of a Narrow Ocean Basin and Cratonic Roots? in Foulger, G.R., Natland, J.H., Presnall, D.C., and Anderson, D.L., eds., Plates, Plumes, and Paradigms:  Geological Society of America Special Publication 388, 653-664, 2005.

  12. Koglin Jr., D. E., S. Ghias, S. D. King, G. T. Jarvis, J. P. Lowman, Mantle Convection with Mobile Plates: A Benchmark Study, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 6, Q09003, doi:10.1029/2005GC000924, 2005.

  13. King, S. D., Archean Cratons and Mantle Dynamics, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 234, 1-14, 2005.

  14. van Keken, P. E., and S. D. King, Thermal Structure and Dynamics of Subduction Zones: Insights from Observations and Modeling, Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 149, 1-6, 2005.

  15. Redmond, H. L and S.D. King, A numerical study of a mantle plume beneath the Tharis Rise: Reconciling dynamic uplift and lithospheric support models,  J. Geophys. Res., 109, E09008, 2004.

  16. Lowman, J.P., S.D. King, and C.W. Gable, Steady plumes in viscously stratified, vigorously convecting, 3D numerical mantle convection models with mobile plates, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 5(1), 10.1029/2003GC000583, 2004.

  17. Tackley, P.J., and S.D. King, Testing the tracer ratio method for modeling active compositional fields in mantle convection simulations, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 4(4), 10.1029/2001GC000214, 2003.

  18. Lowman, J.P., S.D. King, and C.W. Gable, The role of the heating mode of the mantle in periodic reorganizations of the plate velocity field, Geophys. J. Int., 152, 455-467, 2003.

  19. Soofi, M., and S.D. King, Post-Rift Deformation of the Midcontinent Rift Under Grenville Tectonism, Tectonophys., 359/3-4, 209-223, 2002.

  20. Soofi, M., and S.D. King, Oblique convergence between India and Eurasia, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 10.1029/2001JB000636, 2002.

  21. King, S.D., J.P. Lowman, and C.W. Gable, Episodic tectonic plate reorganizations driven by mantle convection, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 203, 83-91, 2002.

  22. King, S.D., Geoid and topography over subduction zones: The effect of phase transformations, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 10.1029/2000JB000141, 2002.

  23. King, S.D., Subduction: Observations and geodynamic models, Phys. Earth, Planet. Int., 127, 9-24, 2001.

  24. Lowman, J.P., S.D. King, C.W. Gable, The influence of tectonic plates on mantle convection patterns, temperature and heat flow, Geophys. J. Int., 146, 619-637, 2001.

  25. King, S.D., and J. Ritsema, African hotspot volcanism: Small-scale convection in the upper mantle beneath cratons, Science, 290, 1137-1140, 2000.

  26. Kim, H., and S.D. King, The study of local time and longitude variability of the amplitude of the equatorial electrojet observed in POGO satellite data, Earth Planet. Space,, 51, 373-381, 1999.

  27. Soofi, M., and S.D. King, A modified beam analysis effect of lateral forces on lithospheric flexure and its implicaitons for post-rift evolution of the Midcontinent Rift System, Tectonophys., 306, 149-162, 1998.

  28. King, S.D. and D.L. Anderson, Edge Driven Convection Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 160, 289-296, 1998.

  29. Ita, J.J. and S.D. King The influence of thermodynamic formulation on simulations of subduction zone geometry and history Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 1463-1466, 1998.

  30. Chen, J., and S.D. King, The influence of temperature and depth dependent viscosity on geoid and topography profiles from models of mantle convection, Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 106, 75-91, 1998.

  31. King, S.D., Geoid and topographic swells over temperature-dependent thermal plumes in spherical-axisymmetric geometry, Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 3093-3096, 1997.

  32. van Keken, P.E., S.D. King, H. Schmeling, U.R. Christensen, D. Neumeister, and M.-P. Doin, A comparison of methods for the modeling of thermochemical convection, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 22,477-22,495, 1997.

  33. Kellogg, L.H., and S.D. King, The effect of temperature dependent viscosity on the structure of new plumes in the mantle: Results of a finite element model in a spherical, axisymmetric shell, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 148, 13-26, 1997.

  34. King, S.D., S. Balachandar, and J.J. Ita, Using eigenfunctions of the two-point correlation function to study convection with multiple phase transformations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 24, 703-706, 1997.

  35. King, S.D., and N. Christensen, Physical properties of rocks. In: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences, E. Julius Dasch (ed.), MacMillan, New York, 1996.

  36. King, S.D., and D.L. Anderson, An alternative mechanism of flood basalt formation, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 136, 269-279, 1995.

  37. King, S.D., Models of mantle viscosity. In: Mineral Physics and Crystallography: Handbook of Physical Constants, AGU Reference Shelf 2, T.J. Ahrens (ed.), American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 227-236, 1995.

  38. King, S.D., The viscosity structure of the mantle. In: Reviews of Geophysics (Supplement) U.S. Quadrennial Report to the IUGG 1991-1994, 11-17, 1995.

  39. King, S.D., Numerical journey to the Earth's interior, IEEE Journal of Comput. Sci. Eng., 2, 12-23, 1995.

  40. King, S.D., Radial models of mantle viscosity: Results from a genetic algorithm, Geophys. J. Int., 122, 725-734, 1995.

  41. King, S.D., Where in Earth do flood basalt come from?. In: Plume 2, D.L. Anderson, S.R. Hart, and A.W. Hofmann (Convenors), Terra Nostra, 3/1995, 79-82, Alfred-Wegener-Stiftung, Bonn, 1995.

  42. King, S.D., and J.J. Ita, The effect of slab rheology on mass transport across a phase transition boundary, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 20,211-20,222, 1995.

  43. King, S.D., and J.J. Ita, Subduction and volatile recycling in Earth's mantle. In: Conference Proceedings No. 341: Volatiles in the Earth and Solar System, K.A. Farley (ed.), American Institute of Physics, New York, 33- 44, 1995.

  44. King, S.D., and B.H. Hager, Subducted slabs and the geoid: 1) Numerical calculations with temperature-dependent viscosity, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 19,843-19,852, 1994.

  45. King, S.D., Introduction to the Special Section on the Transition Zone, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 15,779-15,782, 1994.

  46. Ita, J., and S. King, The sensitivity of convection with an endothermic phase change to the form of governing equations, initial conditions, aspect ratio, and equation of state, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 15,919-15,938, 1994.

  47. Kellogg, L.H., and S.D. King, Effect of mantle plumes on the growth of D" by reaction between the core and the mantle, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20, 379-382, 1993.

  48. King, S.D., Seeing the mantle in the round, Nature (News & Views), 361, 688-689, 1993.

  49. King, S.D., and G. Masters, An inversion for radial viscosity structure using seismic tomography, Geophys. Res. Lett., 19, 1551-1554, 1992.

  50. Staudigel, H., and S.D. King, Ultrafast subduction: The key to slab recycling efficiency and mantle differentiation?, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 109, 517-530, 1992.

  51. King, S.D., C. Gable, and S. Weinstein, Models of convection driven tectonic plates: A comparison of methods and results, Geophys. J. Int., 109, 481-487, 1992.

  52. King, S.D., and B.H. Hager, The relationship between plate velocity and trench viscosity in Newtonian and powerlaw subduction calculations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 17, 2409-2412, 1990.

  53. King, S.D., A. Raefsky, and B.H. Hager, ConMan: Vectorizing a finite element code for incompressible two-dimensional convection in the Earth's mantle,Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 59, 195-208, 1990.

  54. King, S.D., and B.H. Hager, Coupling of mantle temperature anomalies and the flow pattern in the core: Interpretation based on simple convection calculations, Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 58, 118-125, 1989.

  55. MacAyeal, D.R., S. Shabtaie, C.R. Bentley, and S.D. King, Formulation of ice shelf dynamic boundary conditions in terms of a coulomb rheology, J. Geophys. Res., 91, 8188-8191, 1986.


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Contact Information


Fed-Ex address:
Scott King
Department of Geosciences
Virginia Tech
4044 Derring Hall (0420)
Blacksburg, VA 24061

phone: 001-540-231-7038
fax: 001-540-231-3386
e-mail: sdk (at) vt (dot) edu
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