List of contributors ................................................. vi Preface ............................................................. vii Acknowledgements ..................................................... ix 1 Thermal interaction of the core and mantle ............................ 1 PETER OLSON 2 Convection and the lower mantle ...................................... 39 GERALD SCHUBERT 3 Electromagnetic and topographic coupling, and LOD variations ......... 56 DOMINIQUE JAULT 4 Geomagnetic reversals: rates, timescales, preferred paths, statistical models, and simulations .................................. 77 CATHERINE G. CONSTABLE 5 Energy fluxes and ohmic dissipation in the earth's core ............. 100 PAUL H. ROBERTS, CHRISTOPHER A. JONES AND ARTHUR R. CALDERWOOD 6 Convection in rotating spherical shells and its dynamo action ....... 130 FRIEDRICH H. BUSSE, EIKE GROTE AND RADOSTIN SIMITEV 7 Dynamo and convection experiments ................................... 153 HENRI-CLAUDE NATAF 8 Dynamics of the core at short periods: theory, experiments and observations ........................................................ 180 KEITH D. ALDRIDGE Name index .......................................................... 211 Subject index ....................................................... 215