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Limits on the lunar temperature profile
Author(s) -
Hood L. L.,
Sonett C. P.
Publication year - 1982
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/gl009i001p00037
Subject(s) - geology , geophysics , olivine , geology of the moon , thermal conductivity , convection , mineralogy , range (aeronautics) , thermodynamics , materials science , geochemistry , physics , basalt , composite material
Limits on the selenotherm are estimated using (1) a preferred set of bounds on the lunar electrical conductivity profile; (2) published laboratory conductivity vs. temperature data for an olivine and several aluminous orthopyroxenes; and (3) estimates for the Al 2 O 3 content of the deep interior suggested by bulk composition models. The inferred limits are narrowest in the depth range 450 to 1350 km and are in accord with independent geophysical constraints. Thermal history models which yield present‐day selenotherms that are in best agreement with these limits are those which permit subsolidus convection at depths greater than 800 km in the moon.