Astronomy Colloquium

Earth's mantle is 2/3's of the planet by mass and nearly 90% by volume. Throughout Earth's geological history, it has played a major, but often overlooked, role. The rise of atmospheric oxygen, supercontinent breakup, mass extinction events, water in the oceans... if it was a major event in geology, you can be sure the mantle had a part to play. In this talk, I will familiarize the audience with the mantle as it stands today and talk about it's evolution through time as seen in geology, geochemistry and geophysics.