The following movies show thermal convection in the infinite Prandl
number, laminar flow limit as appropriate for the Earth's mantle.
The movies were produced with the finite element code Citcom by
Moresi and Solomatov (1995) as modified by Allen McNamara. For
discussion, see our lecture notes on Tectonic Geodynamics.
Isoviscous, bottom heated models
The aspect ratio of the computational domain is four (4 x 1 , 2D),
there is no internal heating, fixed thermal boundary conditions on the
top and bottom (heating from below) and free slip along the
boundaries. Ra is the Rayleigh number which fully describes system
behavior for these examples.
Isoviscous, mixed and internal heating models
Temperature and depth-dependent viscosity
Effect of phase transitions
Updated: December 06, 2024
(c) Thorsten Becker, 1997-2024.