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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.
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]
When the cause of the convection is unspecified, convection due to the effects of thermal expansion and buoyancy can be assumed. Convection may also take place in soft solids or mixtures where particles can flow. Thermal image of a newly lit Ghillie kettle. The plume of hot air resulting from the convection current is visible.
The volcanism often attributed to deep mantle plumes is alternatively explained by passive extension of the crust, permitting magma to leak to the surface: the plate hypothesis. [24] The convection of the Earth's mantle is a chaotic process (in the sense of fluid dynamics), which is
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 ).
is the surface heat flow [W] at the surface of the Earth (and mantle), = / is the secular cooling heat from the mantle, and , , and are the mass, specific heat, and temperature of the mantle. Q rad {\displaystyle Q_{\text{rad}}} is the radiogenic heat production in the mantle and Q cmb {\displaystyle Q_{\text{cmb}}} is the heat flow from the ...
The Earth is cooling, and the resulting heat flow generates the Earth's magnetic field through the geodynamo and plate tectonics through mantle convection. [13] The main sources of heat are: primordial heat due to Earth's cooling and radioactivity in the planets upper crust. [14] There is also some contributions from phase transitions.
The geothermal gradient is steeper in the lithosphere than in the mantle because the mantle transports heat primarily by convection, leading to a geothermal gradient that is determined by the mantle adiabat, rather than by the conductive heat transfer processes that predominate in the lithosphere, which acts as a thermal boundary layer of the ...