Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
Author Posting. © Oceanography Society, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 20, 1 (2007): 102-115.
Description:
Earth is a thermal engine that dissipates its internal heat primarily through convection.
The buoyant rise of hot material transports heat to the surface from the deep
interior while colder material sinks at subduction zones. Mid-ocean ridges and hotspots
are major expressions of heat dissipation at Earth’s surface, as evidenced by their
abundant volcanic activity. Ridges and hotspots, however, could differ significantly
in their origins. Ridges are linear features that wind more than 60,000 km around the
globe, constituting the major diverging boundaries of Earth’s tectonic plates. Hotspots,
on the other hand, are localized regions of abnormally robust magmatism and
distinctive geochemical anomalies.
Description:
J.D. acknowledges the support of CNRS-INSU, IPGP,
IFREMER and IPEV. J.L. acknowledges
support from the National Science
Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation Endowed Fund for Innovative
Research at WHOI. E.T.B. acknowledges
research support from the
NOAA VENTS Program and Office of
Ocean Exploration.
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
Format:
application/pdf
