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Thermoelastic stresses with reference to scale and morphology of the Earth's surface
Author(s) -
Zimmer F.,
Hergarten St.,
Neugebauer H. J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1998gl900255
Subject(s) - thermoelastic damping , weathering , thermal conduction , geology , earth (classical element) , scale (ratio) , heat transfer , thermal , surface (topology) , atmosphere (unit) , geophysics , materials science , mechanics , geometry , physics , geomorphology , meteorology , composite material , mathematics , quantum mechanics , mathematical physics
The variability of thermoelastic stresses at the Earth's surface is investigated on different scales with a three‐dimensional numerical model. Energy transfer by heat conduction and radiation of sun, atmosphere and Earth's surface is regarded. It is shown that thermoelastic stresses are considerably high, so that they are able to assist faulting and thus force weathering of rocks. Their morphological distribution strongly depends on the spatial scale of the relief; on large scales it is governed by the temperature distribution, on small scales (below a few meters) the surface morphology plays the dominant part.