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DONALD
FORSYTH (2002)
Dr.
Donald Forsyth is one of the world's outstanding marine geophysicists.
With over 90 refereed publications, Dr. Forsyth's research has had a broad
impact on the marine geosciences, in areas ranging from oceanic crustal
structure to mantle dynamics and in studies that combine both theoretical
and observational methods. In the 1970s, he made the first detailed
analysis of upper mantle velocity structure as a function of the cooling
and thickening of the oceanic lithosphere and, in a separate study, was
responsible for the first quantitative analysis of plate tectonic driving
forces. In the 1980s, Forsyth pioneered early work on modeling the
geodynamics of mantle flow and melting beneath mid ocean ridges, and began
to develop models to explain the variation in ridge crest topography with
spreading rate. He invented a new type of gravity anomaly, the mantle
Bouguer anomaly, which has been widely used to map crustal thickness
variations in the oceans. Dr. Forsyth was one of the founding members of
the RIDGE program, and in the 1990s led the highly successful MELT
experiment, the largest marine seismic experiment ever attempted. Aimed at
using seismic and electromagnetic techniques to constrain mantle flow and
melting processes beneath the East Pacific Rise, this experiment pioneered
the use of broadband seismic techniques in the oceans. Most recently,
Forsyth is spearheading the development of the Oceanic Mantle Dynamics
Initiative, a decade-long program that intends to expand the use of
broadband seismic techniques to investigate a variety of additional
problems in ocean mantle dynamics.
Dr.
Forsyth is known as an excellent educator, having taught and mentored a
number of outstanding students. He has been an outstanding colleague to a
large number of scientific collaborators, is a model of integrity, and has
been unselfish in the service that he has given to the scientific and
university communities.
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