Jean-Claude Mareschal holds degrees in theoretical physics from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, applied geophysics from the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, and geophysics from Texas A&M University. Following positions at the University of Toronto and Georgia Tech he joined the Universite du Quebec a Montreal in Canada in 1985, where he is now Professor of Geophysics and teaches geophysics and the physics of the Earth. He was also formerly Director of GEOTOP - the Quebec inter-university network for advanced studies and research in geoscience. Professor Mareschal's research interests include the energy budget and thermal regime of the Earth's lithosphere, the mechanical properties of the continental lithosphere in relation to its formation and evolution, and studies of heat flow at the base of ice sheets to detect signs of climate change. Both authors have worked together on the thermal structure and evolution of cratons and have been mapping the heat flow field of Canada for more than twenty years.