Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Chemical Gardens as Flow-through Reactors Simulating Natural Hydrothermal Systems
Published on: November 18, 2015
Heat flow and hydrothermal circulation in the cascade range, north-central Oregon
Abstract:
In north-central Oregon a large area of near-zero near-surface conductive heat flow occurs in young volcanic rocks of the Cascade Range. Recent advective heat flux measurements and a heat-budget analysis suggest that ground-water circulation sweeps sufficient heat out of areas where rocks younger than 6 Ma (million years ago) are exposed to account for the anomalously high advective and conductive heat discharge measured in older rocks at lower elevations. Earlier workers have proposed that an extensive midcrustal magmatic heat source is responsible for this anomalously high heat flow. Instead, high heat flow in the older rocks may be a relatively shallow phenomenon caused by regional ground-water flow. Any deeper anomaly may be relatively narrow, spatially variable, and essentially confined to the Quaternary (less than 2 Ma) arc. Magmatic intrusion at a rate of 9 to 33 cubic kilometers per kilometer of arc length per million years can account for the total heat flow anomaly. Deep drilling in the areas of high heat flow in the older rocks could indicate which model is more appropriate for the near-surface heat flow data.
Related Concept Videos
Mechanism of heat transfer
Heat Flow and Specific Heat
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer I
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer II
Isothermal Processes
An ideal gas can also undergo isothermal expansion or compression.
For example, consider 1 mole of an ideal gas inside an isolated cylinder at initial volume V...
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer
Conduction, accounting for approximately 3% of body heat loss at rest, is the process of exchanging heat between molecules of two materials in direct contact. This can result in both heat loss and gain. For instance, when the body is submerged in water, which conducts heat 20 times more effectively than air, it can either lose or gain significant heat.

