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Heat Flow, Seafloor: Methods and Observations

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Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definitions

Conductive heat flux :

The rate of heat transfer through a substance per unit area. The conductive heat flux, commonly defined in one dimension, is the product of the thermal gradient and thermal conductivity, with SI units of W m−2. Heat flux is referred to in historical and some current oceanographic literature as “heat flow,” but in precise physical terms, heat flux equals heat flow density.

Advective heat flux :

The rate of heat transfer per unit area as a consequence of material motion. The advective heat flux is commonly defined as the product of the temperature, heat capacity, and material velocity, with SI units of W m−2.

Thermal conductivity:

The constant of proportionality that relates the thermal gradient to the conductive heat flux, indicating the ability of a medium to transfer heat by conduction. SI units are in W m−1 K−1.

Hydrothermal circulation:

Large-scale pore-fluid convection driven by geothermal buoyancy, with flow being strongly influenced by...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Geoscience Centre, Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada

    Earl E. Davis

  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Andrew T. Fisher

Authors
  1. Earl E. Davis
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  2. Andrew T. Fisher
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Earl E. Davis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Seismology, National Geophysical Research Insti, Hyderabad, India

    Harsh K. Gupta

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Davis, E.E., Fisher, A.T. (2020). Heat Flow, Seafloor: Methods and Observations. In: Gupta, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10475-7_65-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10475-7_65-1

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