International Heat Flow Commission: History and Accomplishments over the last fifty-five years

The study of the earth's internal heat plays an important role in understanding the Earth's origin, internal constitution, and plate tectonics. The outflow of heat from the Earth's interior is, energy-wise, the most impressive terrestrial phenomenon. The present rate of heat loss is estimated to be about 1021 joules per year, which is orders of magnitude greater than the energy dissipation of earthquakes or heat loss from volcanic eruptions. Knowledge of terrestrial heat flow is essential in investigating the internal thermal field of the Earth. Initially focus has been on measurements of underground temperatures and thermal properties of geologic materials, assessment of sources and sinks of heat, institution of global data base, development of thermal models of crust and qualification of geothermal energy resources. During later stages, other implications of heat flow studies has also been recognized in fields such as paleoclimatology, global warming, exploration geophysics and hydrogeology. The International Heat Flow Commission – IHFC plays a guiding role in development of such investigations.

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Terrestrial Heat Flow Studies: History of Knowledge and Principal Achievements

Earth Sciences History ◽

10.17704/eshi.26.2.933354787355t1nk ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 301-319

Author(s):

Vladimír Cermák

Keyword(s):

Energy Dissipation ◽

Heat Flow ◽

International Cooperation ◽

Heat Loss ◽

Plate Tectonics ◽

Internal Heat ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Paper Briefly ◽

History Of ◽

Internal Constitution

The outflow of heat from the Earth's interior is, energy-wise, the most impressive terrestrial phenomenon. Its rate of about 1021 joules per year is order of magnitudes greater than the heat loss from volcanic eruptions or energy dissipation of earthquakes. The study of the Earth's internal heat plays an important role in understanding the Earth's origin, its evolution, internal constitution, and plate tectonics. The paper briefly recalls the early days of geothermal understanding of our planet, lists the principal milestones of heat flow studies and reviews the major achievements of the international cooperation under the activities of the International Heat Flow Commission of the IASPEI.

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Chilling Out

10.1093/oso/9780198717867.003.0010 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Roy Livermore

Keyword(s):

Plate Tectonics ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Atmospheric Temperature ◽

Ocean Currents ◽

Mountain Ranges ◽

Continental Rifts ◽

Earth’S Climate ◽

The One ◽

Tectonic Forces

The Earth’s climate changes naturally on all timescales. At the short end of the spectrum—hours or days—it is affected by sudden events such as volcanic eruptions, which raise the atmospheric temperature directly, and also indirectly, by the addition of greenhouse gases such as water vapour and carbon dioxide. Over years, centuries, and millennia, climate is influenced by changes in ocean currents that, ultimately, are controlled by the geography of ocean basins. On scales of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is the crucial influence, producing glaciations and interglacials, such as the one in which we live. Longer still, tectonic forces operate over millions of years to produce mountain ranges like the Himalayas and continental rifts such as that in East Africa, which profoundly affect atmospheric circulation, creating deserts and monsoons. Over tens to hundreds of millions of years, plate movements gradually rearrange the continents, creating new oceans and destroying old ones, making and breaking land and sea connections, assembling and disassembling supercontinents, resulting in fundamental changes in heat transport by ocean currents. Finally, over the very long term—billions of years—climate reflects slow changes in solar luminosity as the planet heads towards a fiery Armageddon. All but two of these controls are direct or indirect consequences of plate tectonics.

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Advanced Geodynamics

10.1017/9781009024822 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

David T. Sandwell

Keyword(s):

Plate Tectonics ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Data Sets ◽

Earthquake Cycle ◽

Mathematical Methods ◽

Graduate Course ◽

Field Development ◽

Linear Partial Differential Equations ◽

Global Data Sets ◽

Global Data

David Sandwell developed this advanced textbook over a period of nearly 30 years for his graduate course at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The book augments the classic textbook Geodynamics by Don Turcotte and Jerry Schubert, presenting more complex and foundational mathematical methods and approaches to geodynamics. The main new tool developed in the book is the multi-dimensional Fourier transform for solving linear partial differential equations. The book comprises nineteen chapters, including: the latest global data sets; quantitative plate tectonics; plate driving forces associated with lithospheric heat transfer and subduction; the physics of the earthquake cycle; postglacial rebound; and six chapters on gravity field development and interpretation. Each chapter has a set of student exercises that make use of the higher-level mathematical and numerical methods developed in the book. Solutions to the exercises are available online for course instructors, on request.

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Heat flow evolution of the Earth from paleomantle temperatures: Evidence for increasing heat loss since ∼2.5 Ga

Physics of The Earth and Planetary Interiors ◽

10.1016/j.pepi.2017.06.001 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 269 ◽

pp. 165-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Javier Ruiz

Keyword(s):

Heat Flow ◽

Heat Loss ◽

The Earth ◽

Flow Evolution

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Scaling properties of planetary calderas and terrestrial volcanic eruptions

Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics ◽

10.5194/npg-19-585-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 19 (6) ◽

pp. 585-593 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

L. Sanchez ◽

R. Shcherbakov

Keyword(s):

Solar System ◽

Scaling Law ◽

Geographical Location ◽

Internal Heat ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Scaling Analysis ◽

Scaling Properties ◽

Caldera Formation ◽

Planetary Bodies ◽

Terrestrial Planetary Bodies

Abstract. Volcanism plays an important role in transporting internal heat of planetary bodies to their surface. Therefore, volcanoes are a manifestation of the planet's past and present internal dynamics. Volcanic eruptions as well as caldera forming processes are the direct manifestation of complex interactions between the rising magma and the surrounding host rock in the crust of terrestrial planetary bodies. Attempts have been made to compare volcanic landforms throughout the solar system. Different stochastic models have been proposed to describe the temporal sequences of eruptions on individual or groups of volcanoes. However, comprehensive understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for volcano formation and eruption and more specifically caldera formation remains elusive. In this work, we propose a scaling law to quantify the distribution of caldera sizes on Earth, Mars, Venus, and Io, as well as the distribution of calderas on Earth depending on their surrounding crustal properties. We also apply the same scaling analysis to the distribution of interevent times between eruptions for volcanoes that have the largest eruptive history as well as groups of volcanoes on Earth. We find that when rescaled with their respective sample averages, the distributions considered show a similar functional form. This result implies that similar processes are responsible for caldera formation throughout the solar system and for different crustal settings on Earth. This result emphasizes the importance of comparative planetology to understand planetary volcanism. Similarly, the processes responsible for volcanic eruptions are independent of the type of volcanism or geographical location.

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Inverted South China: A novel configuration for Rodinia and its breakup

Geology ◽

10.1130/g47807.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xianqing Jing ◽

David A.D. Evans ◽

Zhenyu Yang ◽

Yabo Tong ◽

Yingchao Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South China ◽

Plate Tectonics ◽

The South ◽

Polar Wander ◽

True Polar Wander ◽

Apparent Polar Wander Path ◽

Lower Member ◽

New Interpretation ◽

Global Data

Disentangling records of Rodinia fragmentation and true polar wander remains a challenge for understanding late Tonian plate tectonics. The ca. 760 Ma lower member of the Liántuó Formation, South China, yields a primary paleomagnetic remanence that passes both the fold and reversal tests. This new result and recently reported ca. 800 Ma data from elsewhere in South China suggest a new interpretation of its apparent polar wander path, whereby pre–770 Ma poles have inverted absolute polarity relative to traditional interpretations. Based on this inversion, and an interpretation of several oscillations of true polar wander documented by global data during 810–760 Ma, we propose a novel reconstruction for Rodinia and its breakup. Our reconstruction places the South China, India, and Kalahari cratons to the southwest of Laurentia, with connections that might have been established as early as ca. 1000 Ma. Our model also suggests that initial rifting of Rodinia occurred at ca. 800 Ma via fast northward motion of the India craton and South China.

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