How does small-scale convection manifest in surface heat flux?

Small-scale convection in the suboceanic mantle, if present, is commonly thought to manifest in surface heat flux, and the steady-state scaling of sublithospheric convection has often been used to interpret heat flow data from old ocean basins. Relations among small-scale convection, surface heat fl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEarth and planetary science letters Vol. 287; no. 3; pp. 329 - 332
Main Author Korenaga, Jun
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 15.10.2009
Subjects
Convection
heat flow
Heat flux
Heat transfer
Heat transmission
Mantle
mantle convection
Marine
Ocean basins
oceanic lithosphere
Viscosity
oceanic lithosphere
mantle convection
heat flow
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Summary:Small-scale convection in the suboceanic mantle, if present, is commonly thought to manifest in surface heat flux, and the steady-state scaling of sublithospheric convection has often been used to interpret heat flow data from old ocean basins. Relations among small-scale convection, surface heat flux, and the steady-state scaling, however, have been vague. A series of transient cooling modeling are conducted here to quantify such relations. Given the strong temperature-dependency of mantle viscosity, results suggest that small-scale convection could take place without noticeably disturbing surface heat flux, and that the use of steady-state scaling may not be warranted for the present-day suboceanic mantle.
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ISSN:0012-821X
1385-013X
DOI:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.08.015