Abstract
The age of the earth is estimated through radiometric dating methods to be 4.6 billion years. In the time since its origin, the earth has undergone a continuous thermal evolution. The thermal state which it has now reached can be estimated by direct and indirect means. However the difficulties in estimating temperature increase rapidly with depth. At present it is difficult to plot an accurate temperature map for crustal depths of only 10 km even in well-studied areas. Given the uncertainty in calculating the exact present day thermal state, one can imagine the difficulties and uncertainties in describing the thermal evolution of our planet through its 4.6 billion-year history.
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© 1984 Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg
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Buntebarth, G. (1984). Thermal State of the Earth’s Interior. In: Geothermics. Universitext. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69323-6_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69323-6_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-12751-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-69323-6
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