Abstract
AbstractThe global heat flow is the primary energy flow responsible for heat transportation and dynamic process occurred within the Earth's interior. In this study we investigated, in a three dimensional spherical geometry frame, the generation and distribution characterization of global heat flow on basis of exploring thermal effects of density anomaly and plate driven‐mantle flows, respectively. Results show that thermal effect hence the contribution to the observed heat flow by plate motion‐driven mantle flow is greater than that by internal density anomaly (tomography based). Higher values of observed heat flow in mid‐ocean ridge system could be accounted for, to a great extent, by the thermal effect resulted from the plate‐driven mantle flow. Furthermore, the predicted average temperature as function of depth reveals feature of an isothermal core and two thermal boundary layers at the surface and the core‐mantle boundary. An approximation thickness of 150 km for lithosphere within which the temperature rapidly varies can be obtained. Comparing with other viscosity models used in the study, the model in which viscosity in the lower mantle is 30 times than that in the upper mantle appears to fit data better.
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