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Structure of Earth. The mesosphere is labeled as Stiffer mantle in this diagram. The lower mantle, historically also known as the mesosphere, represents approximately 56% of Earth's total volume, and is the region from 660 to 2900 km below Earth's surface; between the transition zone and the outer core. [1]
Mantle convection is the very slow creep of Earth's solid silicate mantle as convection currents carry heat from the interior to the planet's surface. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Mantle convection causes tectonic plates to move around the Earth's surface.
Mantle convection is the result of a thermal gradient: the lower mantle is hotter than the upper mantle, and is therefore less dense. This sets up two primary types of instabilities. In the first type, plumes rise from the lower mantle, and corresponding unstable regions of lithosphere drip back into the mantle.
The source of heat that drives this motion is the decay of radioactive isotopes in Earth's crust and mantle combined with the initial heat from the planet's formation [27] (from the potential energy released by collapsing a large amount of matter into a gravity well, and the kinetic energy of accreted matter). Due to increasing pressure deeper ...
Convection (or convective heat transfer) is the transfer of heat from one place to another due to the movement of fluid. Although often discussed as a distinct method of heat transfer, convective heat transfer involves the combined processes of conduction (heat diffusion) and advection (heat transfer by bulk fluid flow ).
The remaining heat flow at the surface would be due to basal heating of the crust from mantle convection. Heat fluxes are negatively correlated with rock age, [1] with the highest heat fluxes from the youngest rock at mid-ocean ridge spreading centers (zones of mantle upwelling), as observed in the global map of Earth heat flow. [1]
Atmospheric thermodynamics is the study of heat-to-work transformations (and their reverse) that take place in the Earth's atmosphere and manifest as weather or climate. . Atmospheric thermodynamics use the laws of classical thermodynamics, to describe and explain such phenomena as the properties of moist air, the formation of clouds, atmospheric convection, boundary layer meteorology, and ...
While it seems to be generated mostly by fluid and electric currents in the outer core, those currents are strongly affected by the presence of the solid inner core and by the heat that flows out of it. (Although made of iron, the core is not ferromagnetic, due to being above the Curie temperature.) [citation needed]