Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2026

07:28
Evolution of Staircase Structures in Diffusive Convection
Published on: September 5, 2018
Drift of continental rafts with asymmetric heating
Abstract:
A laboratory model of a lithospheric raft is propelled through a viscous asthenospheric layer with constant velocity of scaled magnitude appropriate to continental drift. The propulsion is due to differential heat concentration in the model oceanic and continental crusts.
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For example, consider 1 mole of an ideal gas inside an isolated cylinder at initial volume V...
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