Is Internal Production of Heat Important Within the Lithosphere?
Well away from the ridge axis where the time rate of change becomes small, it becomes appropriate to consider the steady-state characteristics of equation 3-6. The goal is to examine whether the internal production of heat, H has a significant influence on the temperature distribution. At steady state: Eq 3-7: Equation 3-7 is solved by integrating twice to find: Eq 3-8: The two constants of integration are found by specifying the temperature at the sediment surface: Eq 3-9: and the surface heat flow Eq 3-10: Combining equations 3-8, 3-9 and 3-10, we find: Eq 3-11: If H=0, the temperature increases linearly with depth. For positive internal production of heat, there is a negative deviation from this linear trend which grows as z squared. (The deviation is negative because of the boundary conditions we have chosen; as H increases more of the surface heat flux is derived from internal production of heat and less from the flux of heat from below). In the case of the lithosphere, is this de
