OCEANS AND CONTINENTS - SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THE MECHANISMS OF HEAT-LOSS

Journal article

The principal objective of this paper is to present a simple and self-consistent review of the basic physical processes controlling heat loss from the earth. We give a short summary of the oceanic and continental data and compare and contrast the respective mechanisms of heat loss. In the oceans we concentrate on the effect of hydrothermal circulation, and on the continents we consider in some detail a model relating surface heat flow to varying depth scales for the distribution of potassium, thorium, and uranium. From this comparison we conclude that the range in possible geotherms at depths below 100 to 150km under continents and oceans overlaps and that the thermal structure beneath an old stable continent is indistinguishable from that beneath an ocean were it at equilibrium. Oceans and continents are part of the same thermal system. -Authors

Authors: Sclater, J; Parsons, B; Jaupart, C

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH
• Volume: 86
• Issue: NB12
• Pages: 1535-+
• Publication date: 1981-01-01
• DOI: 10.1029/JB086iB12p11535
• ISSN: 0148-0227
• Language: English