Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Astrobiology pp 1Cite as

Primordial Heat

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 277 Accesses

Definition

Primordial heat is the internal heat energy accumulated by dissipation in a planet during its first few million years of evolution. The main contributions to the primordial heat are accretional energy – the energy deposited by infalling planetesimals – and differentiation energy. The latter is mainly released by core formation and is basically potential energy that is dissipated upon formation of a gravitationally stable layering of the planet. In addition to the primordial heat, the planet’s internal heat source is mainly provided by the radioactive decay of long-lived unstable isotopes such as 238U, 235U, 232Th, and 40K and by latent heat.

See Also

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12489, Berlin, Germany

    Doris Breuer

Authors
  1. Doris Breuer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Doris Breuer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Breuer, D. (2014). Primordial Heat. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1274-3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1274-3

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation