What is the average geothermal gradient of the crust of earth

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Recently viewed 0 Save Search. The heat flow is the amount of heat from the earth's interior that is lost at the surface.

Areas of higher heat flow are generally related to magmatic activity or tectonic forces that bring wedges of hot mantle rock mantle plumes into thin or faulted crustal areas.

Previous The Structure of the Earth. The temperature gradient within the lithosphere upper km is quite variable depending on the tectonic setting. Gradients are lowest in the central parts of continents, higher in the vicinity of subduction zones, and higher still at divergent boundaries.

Figure 9. Within the depth interval between and km, the temperature curve comes very close to the melting boundary for dry mantle rock. Climate Change. Climate Feedback. Ocean Acidification. Rising Sea Level. Geothermal gradient. Moomaw, J. Edenhofer, R.