Dr. Kevin Burke

Heritage Fellow
E-mail: burke@lpi.usra.edu

My primary interest is in tectonics which I define as: " The large scale evolution of planetary lithospheres"

Current Research Projects

Research Statement:
Once the plate structure of Earth's lithosphere was recognized it became appropriate to interpret Earth history as related to complex inter-woven cycles of the opening and the closing of ocean basins. I have called these cycles Wilson cycles after Tuzo Wilson who first suggested this approach to historical geology. The diversity of operation of the Wilson Cycle attracts my interest: how different, if at all, were the cycles 4.0 to 2.5 Ga? What has Asia,a continent assembled in the last 500 Ma, to tell? How peculiar is Africa today? How peculiar was it while Gondwana was being assembled? How much of the history of the Caribbean over the last 150 Ma would be discernable if that ocean were to close?

Last updated
February 14, 2007