How does the continental crust get really hot?
Access Status
Fulltext not available
Authors
Clark, Chris
Fitzsimons, Ian
Healy, David
Harley, S.
Date
2011Type
Journal Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Clark, Chris and Fitzsimons, Ian C.W. and Healy, David and Harley, Simon L. 2011. How does the continental crust get really hot? Elements. 7 (4): pp. 235-240.
Source Title
Elements: an international magazine of mineralogy, geochemistry, and petrology
ISSN
School
Department of Applied Geology
Collection
Abstract
There is widespread evidence that ultra-high temperatures of 900-1000 °C have been generated in the Earth’s crust repeatedly in time and space, and that they were associated with thickened crust in collisional mountain belts and the production of large volumes of magma. Numerical modelling indicates that a long-lived mountain plateau with high internal concentrations of heat-producing elements and low erosion rates is the most likely setting for such extreme conditions, although preferential thickening of already-hot back-arc basins and mechanical heating by deformation in ductile shear zones might also contribute to elevated temperatures.