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The contemporary effect of erosion/sedimentation and past climate on the geothermal gradient

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Summary

The aim of this paper is to calculate the correction that must be applied to the observed geothermal gradient when it is affected by a disturbance due to the contemporary effects of erosion/sedimentation and past climatic changes.

This problem is treated by integrating the equation of heat conduction in a moving homogeneous medium (which accounts for the erosion/sedimentation process) with the boundary condition that the surface temperature undergoes a sinusoidal variation in time. The solution shows that the whole disturbance in the soil temperature at any depth is the sum of two terms which represent, separately, the effects of erosion/sedimentation and that of past climatic changes. The disturbance can thus be removed from the geothermal gradient by applying separately the respective corrections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Geologia e Geofisica, Universita' di Bari, Italy

    F. Mongelli & G. Zito

Authors
  1. F. Mongelli
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  2. G. Zito
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Mongelli, F., Zito, G. The contemporary effect of erosion/sedimentation and past climate on the geothermal gradient. Stud Geophys Geod 37, 258–264 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01624599

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01624599

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