 Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-of-the-earth-as-a-planet-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-1/1/a/iv/solution

Far from the ridge, $T (z, \infty) = T_{0} + Δ T (1 - z / a)$ . Transients have decayed and the heat equation reduces to

T_{zz} = 0

. A finite basal heat supply sustains this gradient. Thermal thickness, seafloor depth and surface heat flux therefore approach finite limits rather than continuing the laws of the half-space cooling model indefinitely.

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