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Heat flow in rift basins above a hot asthenosphere
Author(s) -
Pedersen Tom
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3121.1993.tb00239.x
Subject(s) - asthenosphere , geology , rift , lithosphere , mantle (geology) , subsidence , petrology , heat flow , geophysics , tectonics , geomorphology , seismology , thermal , structural basin , meteorology , physics
When continental rifting takes place above a hot asthenosphere, pressure‐release melting of adiabatically upwelling mantle may generate large volumes of basaltic melts which subsequently are emplaced at crustal levels and cool. To correctly estimate the heat flow from tectonic subsidence and crustal thinning, it is necessary to account for the melt volumes. A simple physical model of heat flow that incorporates a crustal growth correction on lithospheric extension estimates, as well as the heat in the emplaced magma, has been developed. The principal result is that heat flow may be substantially increased for several million years after rifting, even for a moderately heated asthenosphere.