Thermodynamics of the Earth

Applications of elementary thermodynamic principles to the dynamics of the Earth lead to robust, quantitative conclusions about the tectonic effects that arise from convection. The grand pattern of motion conveys deep heat to the surface, generating mechanical energy with a thermodynamic efficiency corresponding to that of a Carnot engine operating over the adiabatic temperature gradient between the heat source and sink. Referred to the total heat flux derived from the Earth's silicate mantle, the efficiency is 24% and the power generated, 7.7 x 1012 W, causes all the material deformation apparent as plate tectonics and the consequent geological processes. About 3.5% of this is released in seismic zones but little more than 0.2% as seismic waves. Even major earthquakes are only localized hiccups in this motion. Complications that arise from mineral phase transitions can be used to illuminate details of the motion. There are two superimposed patterns of convection, plate subduction and deep mantle plumes, driven by sources of buoyancy, negative and positive respectively, at the top and bottom of the mantle. The patterns of motion are controlled by the viscosity contrasts (>104 : 1) at these boundaries and are self-selected as the least dissipative mechanisms of heat transfer for convection in a body with very strong viscosity variation. Both are subjects of the thermodynamic efficiency argument. Convection also drives the motion in the fluid outer core that generates the geomagnetic field, although in that case there is an important energy contribution by compositional separation, as light solute is rejected by the solidifying inner core and mixed into the outer core, a process referred to as compositional convection. Uncertainty persists over the core energy balance because thermal conduction is a drain on core energy that has been a subject of diverse estimates, with attendant debate over the need for radiogenic heat in the core. The geophysical approach to thermal physics, especially thermal expansion and the Grueneisen parameter, invokes insights that have disappeared from view in 'mainstream' physics.