Abstract
The ground surface temperature, the geothermal flow and the rock radiogenic heat provide evidence of the heat transfer processes and allow the determination of the thermal structure of the lithosphere. This chapter describes the fluctuation in the subsurface temperature, caused by ground surface temperature variations, and the main heat sources of geothermal flow. The primordial heat and cooling of the Earth are outlined as well as the radiogenic heat as a function of time and the heat originated by transient perturbations yielded by tectonothermal processes. The intersection between geotherms and the upper mantle solidus supplies an estimate of the thickness of the continental plate. By modelling the oceanic plate cooling as a semi-infinite solid initially at uniform temperature, the temperature and thickness of the lithosphere can be assessed together with the geothermal flow and the seafloor depth. In addition to the thermal structure of the deeper interior, this chapter also gives an insight into mantle convection.
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Pasquale, V., Verdoya, M., Chiozzi, P. (2017). Thermal Structure. In: Geothermics. SpringerBriefs in Earth Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52084-1_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52084-1_3
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