Abstract
Numerical calculations have been carried out on the development of surface heat flow in model earths. The bulk radioactivity of the earth is taken equal to that of chondritic meteorites. The initial temperature reaches 2600° at 1200 km. The heat flow for a model in which the radioactivity is uniformly distributed in the outer 600 km is 90 ergs/cm2/sec. If the radioactivity is concentrated in the outer 100 km, the present-day surface heat flow is 68 ergs/cm2/sec. The initial heat contributes about one-fifth the surface heat flow. The examination of the relations between initial heat, radioactive distribution, and heat flow suggests that if the earth has the radioactive composition of chondritic meteorites, then a near-surface concentration of heat sources must have proceeded at temperatures well below the melting point of silicates. Radioactivity lower by a factor of 2 would remove the indicated discrepancies.
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