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Thermal Pressure, Earth’s Interior and Adiabatic Processes

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Thermodynamics in Earth and Planetary Sciences

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Abstract

This chapter deals with several applications of the basic thermodynamic relations developed so far to problems relating to the properties and processes in the Earth’s interior, from shallow crustal level to the lower mantle and core, supplemented by an overview of the interior of the Earth. The specific topics include thermal pressure with applications to the core of the Earth and magma-hydrothermal systems, relationship between elastic properties of solids and seismic wave velocities with applications to radial density variation in the Earth’s core and mantle, adiabatic flow processes with applications to geyser eruption and upwelling of material and melting in the Earth’s interior, and thermal effect of volatile ascent.

Unwary readers should take warning that ordinary language undergoes modification to a high-pressure form when applied to the interior of the Earth; a few examples of equivalents follow: certain (high pressure form) – dubious (ordinary meaning), undoubtedly (high pressure form) – perhaps (ordinary meaning) …

Francis Birch

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Whether or not there will be any significant heat loss from an upwelling material depends on the value of a dimensionless parameter, known as the Peclet number (Pe), which is given by Pe = vl/k, where v is the upward velocity, l is the distance traveled and k is the thermal diffusivity of the material. There is no significant heat loss when Pe is significantly greater than unity. For mantle material Pe ~ 30 (McKenzie and Bickle 1988).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Jibamitra Ganguly

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Ganguly, J. (2020). Thermal Pressure, Earth’s Interior and Adiabatic Processes. In: Thermodynamics in Earth and Planetary Sciences. Springer Textbooks in Earth Sciences, Geography and Environment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20879-0_7

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