UNSTEADY-STATE THERMAL MODELS OF THE OCEANIC LITHOSPHERE

Abstract

In modeling any process, we desire to select the experimental data that give the best representation of the original. There have been many theories explaining the thermal conditions in the lithosphere on plates undergoing spreading. They all are based on the postulate of a linear mechanism of conductive heat transfer with various refinements (e.g., correction for convection, sedimentation, and phase transitions) and on a parabolic heat conduction equation. None of these models explains all the facts described above, although they do account for them individually. In the present paper, we use a uniform approach which eliminates or lessens the contradictions even in the simplest models.