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Convection
Author(s) -
Turcotte Donald L.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg017i006p01090
Subject(s) - mantle (geology) , geology , mantle convection , earth's internal heat budget , convection , geophysics , hotspot (geology) , lithosphere , rayleigh number , tectonics , natural convection , mechanics , seismology , physics
The lithospheric plates of plate tectonics are created from hot mantle rock at ocean ridges and descend into the mantle at ocean trenches. The plates are by definition, part of mantle convection cells. A fluid heated from within or from below and cooled from above convects thermally if the Rayleigh number exceeds a critical value. The earth's mantle is heated from within due to the decay of radioactive isotopes and is heated from below by heat generation in the core.