Models for the Archean thermal regime

Abstract

Different regonalized thermal evolution models are presented. The models are used to determine the concentration of heat-producing elements such as U, Th, and K, which are required to have a present-day mantle potential temperature of 1350 C starting from a high temperature of 2000 C, 4.5 billion years ago and to calculate the thermal structure of the continental lithosphere through time. The parameterized equations for the various convective regimes considered, are discussed. It is shown that only the models with layered mantle convection and a continental lithosphere of fixed thickness (greater than or equal to 175 km) are able to satisfy the constraints of some part of the lithosphere being in the diamond stability field during the Archean and an interior temperature greater than 1600 C during the Archean to account for the high-magnesian komatiites of that period.