Dan McKenzie

Dan Peter McKenzie (born June 1, 1942 (age 80)) is a British geologist at the University of Cambridge who was awarded the 2002 Crafoord Prize for his contribution to plate tectonics research., the formation of sedimentary basins and the melting of the Earth's mantle.

In the late 1960s, McKenzie published several papers foundational to the development of the theory of plate tectonics, which has become an essential pillar of modern geology, explaining that the Earth's crust is composed of a few rigid plates that move independently. In the following years, McKenzie turned his attention to the processes that occur at plate boundaries. This work led to new insights into orogenic processes and help predict earthquakes. More recently, McKenzie has worked with NASA to study the forces that have shaped the orography of Mars and Venus.

Some posts

• McKenzie, D., Nimmo, F., Jackson, J., Gans, P. B., Miller, E. L. 2000. Characteristics and consequences of flow in the crust. J. geophys. Res. 105, 11029-11046
• McKenzie, D., Fairhead, D. 1997. Estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere from Bouguer and free air gravity anomalies. J. geophys. Res. 102 27523-27552
• Jackson, J.A., McKenzie, D. 1988. The relationship between plate motions and sixmic moment tensors, and the rates of active deformation in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Geophys. J. R. astro. Soc. 93, 45-73
• Bickle, M. J., McKenzie, D. 1987. The transport of heat and matter by fluids during metamorphism. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 95, 384-92
• Jackson, J., McKenzie, D. 1983. The geometrical evolution of normal fault systems. J. Structural Geol. 5, 471-82
• McKenzie, D., O'Nions, R. K. 1983. Mantle reservoirs and ocean island basalts. Nature 301 229-231
• England, P., McKenzie, D. 1982. A thin viscous sheet model for continental deformation. Geophys. J. R. astro. Soc. 70, 295-321
• McKenzie, D. 1978. Some remarks on the development of sedimentary basins. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 40, 25-32
• Parsons, B., McKenzie, D. 1978. Mantle convection and the thermal structure of plates. J. geophys. Res. 83, 4485-96
• McKenzie, D., Roberts, J., Weiss, N. O. 1974. Convection in the Earth's mantle: towards a numerical simulation. J. Fluid Mech., 62, 465-538
• McKenzie, D., Molnar, P., Davies, D. 1970. Plate tectonics of the Red Sea and East Africa. Nature 226, 243-8
• McKenzie, D., Sclater, J. G. 1971. The evolution of the Indian Ocean since the late Cretaceous. Geophys. J. R. astro. Soc. 25, 437-528
• McKenzie, D., Parker, R. L. 1967. The North Pacific: an example of tectonics on a sphere. Nature 216, 1276-1280
• McKenzie, D. 1966. The viscosity of the lower mantle. J geophys. Res. 71, 3995-4010