Kevin C. A. Burke

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Kevin Charles Anthony Burke
Kevin C. A. Burke.png
Kevin Burke in the middle 1980s. Photo provided courtesy of Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX
BornNovember 13, 1929
London, UK
DiedMarch 21, 2018 (age 88)
Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
NationalityBritish
CitizenshipUK (1929-1979), USA (1979-2018)
EducationPhD, University of London, 1953
OccupationProfessor of Geology
Employer
University of Ghana (1953-1956) * British Geological Survey (1956-1961) * University of the West Indies (1961-1965) * University of Ibadan (1965-1972) * SUNY Albany (1973-1983) * Lunar and Planetary Institute (1983-1988) * University of Houston (1983-2018)
Organization
University of Toronto (1972-1973) * Geological Survey of Norway (2003-2009) * Physics of Geological Processes, University of Oslo (2009-2013) * Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (2010) * Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo (2013-2016)
Known forContributions in plate tectonics
Awards
GSA Career Contribution Award (2004) * Penrose Medal (2007) * Arthur Holmes Medal (2014)

Kevin C. A. Burke (Kevin Charles Anthony Burke, November 13, 1929 - March 21, 2018) was a geologist known for his contributions in the theory of plate tectonics.[1][2] In the course of his life, Burke held multiple professorships,[1][3] most recent of which (1983-2018) was the position of professor of geology and tectonics at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, University of Houston. His studies on plate tectonics, deep mantle processes, sedimentology, erosion, soil formation and other topics extended over several decades and influenced multiple generations of geologists and geophysicists around the world.[1][3]

Biography[]

Early life and education[]

Kevin Burke was born on November 13, 1929 in London, England, to a cultured family of Irish descent.[3] He obtained his B.Sc. degree from University College London in 1951, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of London in 1953. His Ph.D. study focused on mapping and dating Barrovian metamorphic rocks and granites in the Connemara area of western Ireland.[1]

Scientific work[]

From 1953 to 1972, Burke held a series of teaching and research positions in geology, including a lecturer position at the University College of the Gold Coast (now the University of Ghana, 1953–1956) and a senior geologist position at the Atomic Energy Division of the British Geological Survey (1956–1961).[3] While at the British Geological Survey, he worked in the east African rift and in South Korea. During that time he married his lifelong companion, Angela Marion Burke. From 1961 to 1965, Burke was the head of the Geology Department at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, and held a position of the head of the Geology Department at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, from 1965 to 1972.[3]

A critical turn in Burke's career occurred in 1972–1973 when he became a visiting professor at the University of Toronto, Canada. There, he became a close associate of J. Tuzo Wilson, who at that time was one of the most prominent proponents of plate tectonics and studies of volcanic hotspots. During his time in Toronto with Wilson, Burke began a lifelong study of hotspots,[4][5] rifting[6] and mantle processes,[7][8] which was enhanced by his previous field experiences in Africa and the Caribbean.[9][10]

In 1973, Burke was invited by John F. Dewey to join the faculty at the State University of New York at Albany, which had assembled a group of geoscientists interested in plate tectonics, hotspot studies, rifting, and field-based ophiolite studies. During his 10-year residence in Albany, Burke produced many seminal papers on continental rifting,[11][7][12] hotspots,[13][14] Caribbean tectonics,[15][16][17] and the effects of continent-continent collision in Asia and other places.[18][19][20][21]

In 1983, Burke joined the faculty of the University of Houston and also worked as director and associate director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute at NASA in Houston until 1988. In the 1990s and 2000s, in addition to mentoring graduate students and teaching at the University of Houston, he held many visiting professorships at NASA, JPL, UCLA, Carnegie Institute, and the University of Oslo, Norway.

From 2003 and until his death in 2018, Kevin Burke worked in close collaboration with Trond H. Torsvik, who was then the head of the Geodynamics research group at the Geological Survey of Norway and later became a professor of geology at the University of Oslo, Norway. This collaboration resulted in several seminal contributions, describing the causal links between the two large-scale structures in the lowermost part of the Earth mantle (Large Low Shear-wave Velocity Provinces, or LLSVPs), the large-scale geometry of mantle convection, mantle plumes and surface hotspot volcanism.[22][23][24][25]

Burke was the first who recognized that the most prominent mantle plumes feeding active hotspots rose from the margins of LLSVPs, which he termed the "Plume Generation Zones" (PGZs).[26] Evidence for long-term stability of LLSVPs (over time scales of hundreds of millions of years) from paleogeographic reconstructions of large igneous provinces[22][23][27] and kimberlites,[24] led Burke and Torsvik to develop a new approach to absolute plate reconstructions (PGZ method),[28] in which the geological records of hotspot volcanism are used to constrain the longitudinal positions of lithospheric plates in the originally unconstrained reconstructions based on paleomagnetism.[25] This work stimulated renewed interest to the LLSVPs in the geosciences community, resulting in a growing number of studies aimed to address the origin and evolution of the LLSVP structures in the lowermost mantle.[29][30][31] The long-term temporal stability of LLSVPs has not yet been fully accepted by the scientific community and remains a field of on-going debate and active research.[32]

Professional communities[]

Over his entire scientific career, Kevin Burke was a very active member of the geological and geophysical scientific community. Burke was a member of the Geological Society of London, the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the European Geosciences Union, the Nigerian Mining Geological and Metallurgical Society, the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, and the Houston Geological Society.[2] He also served on many national committees, including the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, NASA, and the National Academy of Sciences.[3]

Death[]

Kevin Burke died of a heart attack at the age of 88. He died at Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on March 21, 2018.[33] Burke was survived by a brother and sister, three children and two grandchildren.

The EOS magazine of the American Geophysical Union paid a tribute to Kevin Burke by publishing an article, in which he was described as a "complete geologist of the ilk of Charles Lyell, Alexander von Humboldt, Eduard Suess, or Arthur Holmes."[3]

Awards and honors[]

Burke's lifetime achievement awards include the Geological Society of America (GSA) Structural Geology and Tectonics Career Contribution Award (2004);[1] the Penrose Medal, the highest award of the Geological Society of America (2007);[34] and the Arthur Holmes Medal and Honorary Membership, one of the most prestigious awards of the European Geosciences Union (2014).[35]

Terms and acronyms[]

  • The Burkian Earth is a simple conceptual model of a degree-2 planet with two stable antipodal thermochemical piles at the core-mantle boundary (LLSVPs, TUZO and JASON). Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), kimberlites, and active hotspots are sourced by deep mantle plumes rising from the Plume Generation Zones (PGZs) at the margins of TUZO and JASON. Convection in the lower mantle is limited to vertically sinking slabs and ascending plumes. Left panel: Schematic cross-section of the Earth in the equatorial plane. Right panel: Schematic vertical cross-section of the Earth's mantle through the Plume Generation Zone (PGZ). Redrawn from Torsvik et al. (2016).[32]
    Kevin Burke coined the term "Wilson Cycle" for the sequence of continental rifting, ocean opening, ocean closure, and continent–continent collision,[14][32] which was originally suggested by J. Tuzo Wilson in 1966.[36]
  • Being a vocal advocate for the stability of LLSVPs,[22] Burke suggested referring to the LLSVP residing under the African plate as "TUZO" (the acronym stands for "The Unmoved ZOne of the Earth mantle" and commemorates J. Tuzo Wilson), and to the one under the Pacific Ocean — as "JASON" ("Just As Stable ON the opposite meridian," after W. Jason Morgan, an influential American geophysicist known for his seminal works on plate tectonics and mantle plumes).
  • Another acronym introduced by Kevin Burke is "TANYA," which is the name for a smaller-scale structure of anomalously low shear-wave velocity (Low Shear-wave Velocity Province or LSVP, not to be confused with LLSVP) residing in the lowermost mantle underneath the western coast of North America. The acronym stands for "The Anomalous Near Yellowstone Area"[37] and is presumably a tribute to Tanya Atwater, an American marine geophysicist renowned for her research on the plate tectonic history of western North America.
  • The term "Burkian Earth" was used by Torsvik and co-workers[32] for a simple conceptual model of the Earth as a stable "degree-two planet." On the Burkian Earth, mantle flow is dominated by small-scale convection in the upper mantle, whereas circulation in the lower mantle is mostly restricted to sinking lithospheric slabs and mantle plumes rising from the margins of two stable and antipodal LLSVPs (hence degree two). Subduction zones concentrate along a meridian between the two LLSVPs (resembling the Pacific “ring of fire”); hence, slabs sinking all the way to the lowermost mantle also relate to long-wavelength lower-mantle structure dominated by the degree two term.

Videos (external links)[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "In Memoriam: Kevin C. A. Burke, Ph.D., UH Professor of Geology and Tectonics (1929-2018) - University of Houston". www.uh.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "In Memoriam: Kevin Burke, 1929–2018". www.lpi.usra.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Kevin Charles Antony Burke (1929–2018)". Eos. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  4. ^ Burke, K.; Wilson, J. T. (October 1972). "Is the African Plate Stationary?". Nature. 239 (5372): 387–390. Bibcode:1972Natur.239..387B. doi:10.1038/239387b0. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 12635294. S2CID 4252132.
  5. ^ Burke, Kevin C.; Wilson, J. Tuzo (1976). "Hot Spots on the Earth's Surface". Scientific American. 235 (2): 46–59. Bibcode:1976SciAm.235b..46B. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0876-46. ISSN 0036-8733. JSTOR 24950416.
  6. ^ Burke, Kevin; Dessauvagie, T. F. J.; Whiteman, A. J. (September 1971). "Opening of the Gulf of Guinea and Geological History of the Benue Depression and Niger Delta". Nature Physical Science. 233 (38): 51–55. Bibcode:1971NPhS..233...51B. doi:10.1038/physci233051a0. ISSN 2058-1106.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Sengör, A. M. Celal; Burke, Kevin (1978). "Relative timing of rifting and volcanism on Earth and its tectonic implications". Geophysical Research Letters. 5 (6): 419–421. Bibcode:1978GeoRL...5..419S. doi:10.1029/GL005i006p00419. ISSN 1944-8007.
  8. ^ Burke, Kevin (2011). "Plate Tectonics, the Wilson Cycle, and Mantle Plumes: Geodynamics from the Top". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 39 (1): 1–29. Bibcode:2011AREPS..39....1B. doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-152521.
  9. ^ Bonini, William Emory; Hargraves, Robert B.; Shagam, Reginald (1984). The Caribbean-South American Plate Boundary and Regional Tectonics. Geological Society of America. ISBN 9780813711621.
  10. ^ Burke, K (1988-05-01). "Tectonic Evolution of the Caribbean". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 16 (1): 201–230. Bibcode:1988AREPS..16..201B. doi:10.1146/annurev.ea.16.050188.001221. ISSN 0084-6597.
  11. ^ Burke, Kevin; Dewey, J. F. (1973-07-01). "Plume-Generated Triple Junctions: Key Indicators in Applying Plate Tectonics to Old Rocks". The Journal of Geology. 81 (4): 406–433. Bibcode:1973JG.....81..406B. doi:10.1086/627882. ISSN 0022-1376. S2CID 53392107.
  12. ^ Burke, KEVIN (1976-01-01). "The Chad Basin: An Active Intra-Continental Basin". In Bott, M. H. P. (ed.). Sedimentary Basins of Continental Margins and Cratons. Developments in Geotectonics. Sedimentary Basins of Continental Margins and Cratons. 12. Elsevier. pp. 197–206. doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-41549-3.50018-9. ISBN 9780444415493. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  13. ^ Burke, Kevin; Kidd, W. S. F.; Wilson, J. Tuzo (September 1973). "Relative and Latitudinal Motion of Atlantic Hot Spots". Nature. 245 (5421): 133–137. Bibcode:1973Natur.245..133B. doi:10.1038/245133a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 6705549.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Dewey, John F.; Burke, Kevin (1974-02-01). "Hot Spots and Continental Break-up: Implications for Collisional Orogeny". Geology. 2 (2): 57–60. Bibcode:1974Geo.....2...57D. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1974)2<57:hsacbi>2.0.co;2. ISSN 0091-7613.
  15. ^ Burke, Kevin; Fox, P. J.; Şengör, A. M. C. (1978). "Buoyant ocean floor and the evolution of the Caribbean". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 83 (B8): 3949–3954. Bibcode:1978JGR....83.3949B. doi:10.1029/JB083iB08p03949. ISSN 2156-2202.
  16. ^ Mann, Paul; Burke, Kevin (1984). "Neotectonics of the Caribbean". Reviews of Geophysics. 22 (4): 309–362. Bibcode:1984RvGSP..22..309M. doi:10.1029/RG022i004p00309. ISSN 1944-9208.
  17. ^ Wadge, G.; Burke, K. (1983). "Neogene Caribbean Plate rotation and associated Central American tectonic evolution". Tectonics. 2 (6): 633–643. Bibcode:1983Tecto...2..633W. doi:10.1029/TC002i006p00633. ISSN 1944-9194.
  18. ^ Burke, Kevin; Dewey, J. F.; Kidd, W. S. F. (1977-06-08). "World distribution of sutures — the sites of former oceans". Tectonophysics. Past distribution of continents. 40 (1): 69–99. Bibcode:1977Tectp..40...69B. doi:10.1016/0040-1951(77)90030-0. ISSN 0040-1951.
  19. ^ Dewey, John F.; Burke, Kevin C. A. (1973-11-01). "Tibetan, Variscan, and Precambrian Basement Reactivation: Products of Continental Collision". The Journal of Geology. 81 (6): 683–692. Bibcode:1973JG.....81..683D. doi:10.1086/627920. ISSN 0022-1376. S2CID 128770759.
  20. ^ Livaccari, Richard F.; Burke, Kevin; Şengör, A. M. C. (January 1981). "Was the Laramide orogeny related to subduction of an oceanic plateau?". Nature. 289 (5795): 276–278. Bibcode:1981Natur.289..276L. doi:10.1038/289276a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 27153755.
  21. ^ Burke, Kevin; Sengör, Celal (2013), "Tectonic Escape in the Evolution of the Continental Crust", Reflection Seismology: The Continental Crust, American Geophysical Union (AGU), pp. 41–53, doi:10.1029/gd014p0041, ISBN 9781118670118
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b c Burke, Kevin; Torsvik, Trond H. (2004-11-15). "Derivation of Large Igneous Provinces of the past 200 million years from long-term heterogeneities in the deep mantle". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 227 (3): 531–538. Bibcode:2004E&PSL.227..531B. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2004.09.015. ISSN 0012-821X.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b Torsvik, Trond H.; Smethurst, Mark A.; Burke, Kevin; Steinberger, Bernhard (2006-12-01). "Large igneous provinces generated from the margins of the large low-velocity provinces in the deep mantle". Geophysical Journal International. 167 (3): 1447–1460. Bibcode:2006GeoJI.167.1447T. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2006.03158.x. ISSN 0956-540X.
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b Torsvik, Trond H.; Burke, Kevin; Steinberger, Bernhard; Webb, Susan J.; Ashwal, Lewis D. (July 2010). "Diamonds sampled by plumes from the core–mantle boundary" (PDF). Nature. 466 (7304): 352–355. Bibcode:2010Natur.466..352T. doi:10.1038/nature09216. hdl:10852/62003. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 20631796. S2CID 4423243.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b Torsvik, Trond H.; Voo, Rob van der; Doubrovine, Pavel V.; Burke, Kevin; Steinberger, Bernhard; Ashwal, Lewis D.; Trønnes, Reidar G.; Webb, Susan J.; Bull, Abigail L. (2014-06-17). "Deep mantle structure as a reference frame for movements in and on the Earth". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (24): 8735–8740. Bibcode:2014PNAS..111.8735T. doi:10.1073/pnas.1318135111. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4066531. PMID 24889632.
  26. ^ Burke, Kevin; Steinberger, Bernhard; Torsvik, Trond H.; Smethurst, Mark A. (2008-01-15). "Plume Generation Zones at the margins of Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces on the core–mantle boundary". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 265 (1): 49–60. Bibcode:2008E&PSL.265...49B. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2007.09.042. ISSN 0012-821X.
  27. ^ Torsvik, Trond H.; Smethurst, Mark A.; Burke, Kevin; Steinberger, Bernhard (2008-03-30). "Long term stability in deep mantle structure: Evidence from the ~300 Ma Skagerrak-Centered Large Igneous Province (the SCLIP)". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 267 (3): 444–452. Bibcode:2008E&PSL.267..444T. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2007.12.004. ISSN 0012-821X.
  28. ^ Torsvik, Trond H.; Steinberger, Bernhard; Cocks, L. Robin M.; Burke, Kevin (2008-12-15). "Longitude: Linking Earth's ancient surface to its deep interior". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 276 (3): 273–282. Bibcode:2008E&PSL.276..273T. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.09.026. ISSN 0012-821X.
  29. ^ Tan, Eh; Leng, Wei; Zhong, Shijie; Gurnis, Michael (2011). "On the location of plumes and lateral movement of thermochemical structures with high bulk modulus in the 3-D compressible mantle". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 12 (7): n/a. Bibcode:2011GGG....12.7005T. doi:10.1029/2011GC003665. ISSN 1525-2027. S2CID 42016208.
  30. ^ Bull, Abigail L.; Domeier, Mathew; Torsvik, Trond H. (2014-09-01). "The effect of plate motion history on the longevity of deep mantle heterogeneities". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 401: 172–182. Bibcode:2014E&PSL.401..172B. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2014.06.008. ISSN 0012-821X.
  31. ^ Bower, Dan J.; Gurnis, Michael; Seton, Maria (January 2013). "Lower mantle structure from paleogeographically constrained dynamic Earth models". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 14 (1): 44–63. Bibcode:2013GGG....14...44B. doi:10.1029/2012GC004267.
  32. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Torsvik, Trond H.; Steinberger, Bernhard; Ashwal, Lewis D.; Doubrovine, Pavel V.; Trønnes, Reidar G. (2016-02-22). "Earth evolution and dynamics—a tribute to Kevin Burke" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 53 (11): 1073–1087. Bibcode:2016CaJES..53.1073T. doi:10.1139/cjes-2015-0228. hdl:10852/61998. ISSN 0008-4077.
  33. ^ "Remembering the life of Kevin C.A. Burke 1929 - 2018". obituaries.gloucestertimes.com. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  34. ^ "Geological Society of America - 2007 Penrose Medal - Citation & Response". www.geosociety.org. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  35. ^ "Kevin C. A. Burke". European Geosciences Union (EGU). Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  36. ^ Wilson, J. Tuzo (1966-08-01). "Did the Atlantic Close and then Re-Open?". Nature. 211 (5050): 676–681. Bibcode:1966Natur.211..676W. doi:10.1038/211676a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4226266.
  37. ^ EGU2014: Arthur Holmes Medal Lecture by Kevin C.A. Burke (ML2), retrieved 2019-11-13
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