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Heat and helium in the Earth

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Abstract

Questions concerning the locations of possible chemical reservoirs and heat sources are closely tied to those of connvective motions in the Earth's interior. For example, if the continental crust and the atmosphere have been extracted from only an upper portion of the mantle then the convective motions in that portion of the mantle are likely to have been decoupled from any deeper motions. The predicted thermal history for an Earth with a layered mantle (separated convection between upper and lower portions) is quite different for one with convection extending throughout the whole mantle. The budgets of helium and heat in the Earth's continental crust and mantle provide important constraints on the large scale processes operating in the mantle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK

    R. K. O'Nions & E. R. Oxburgh

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  1. R. K. O'Nions
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  2. E. R. Oxburgh
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O'Nions, R., Oxburgh, E. Heat and helium in the Earth. Nature 306, 429–431 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/306429a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/306429a0

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