Friday, January 8, 2010

Why is there a high geothermal gradient at rift zones?

This is a question that my mineralogy professor asked us to focus on for our final exam. Any input to this question at all would be appreciated. Thank you.Why is there a high geothermal gradient at rift zones?
The first thing you have to do is to understand what a geothermal gradient is: the transfer of heat from within the Earth to the Earth's crust. Next you have to understand what causes a rift zone: it is formed when upwelling magma from the convecting mantle thins and rifts the lithosphere. Now you are in a position to why there is a high transfer of heat found there: upwelling from the hot mantle in an area that has thin crust.

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