IV.—On the Effect of the Glacial Period in Changing the Underground Temperature Gradient

Charles Davison

doi:10.1017/S0016756800123271

IV.—On the Effect of the Glacial Period in Changing the Underground Temperature Gradient

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2009

Charles Davison

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In his recent work on “Controverted Questions of Geology” (p. 159), Professor Prestwich remarks that the intense cold of the Glacial period may still be perceptible in the underground temperature gradient; that “to a certain depth the rate of cooling is now abnormally slow, owing to the excessive refrigeration the crust then underwent.” The suggestion is a valuable one, and I propose to test it in the present paper by estimating roughly the change which the temperature gradient may have experienced since the close of the Glacial period.

Type: Original Articles
Information: Geological Magazine , Volume 2 , Issue 8 , August 1895 , pp. 356 - 360

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756800123271 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1895

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^{page 356 note 1} This is the average of the annual means at 57 stations given by Dr. A. Buchan in his great work on “Atmospheric Circulation,” “Challenger” Reports, Physics Chemistry, vol. ii, pp. 196–199.Google Scholar

^{page 356 note 2} Phil. Mag., vol. vii, 1879, p. 385.Google Scholar

^{page 358 note 1} The calculations are performed as follows:—If b be the rise of mean annual temperature at the surface in degrees, k the conductivity of rock expressed in terms of its own capacity for heat, t the number of years since the change of temperature took place, then the change of gradient is b ÷ (Rev. O. Fisher, Phil. Mag., vol. xxxiv, 1892, p. 339). This value, it should be remarked, is independent of the previous gradient. Taking Lord Kelvin's value for k, namely 400, the above formula becomes. If b=20 and t=10000, and the change of gradient is ·00564 degree per foot. But the gradient now is taken to be ·02 degree per foot, so that, at the end of the Glacial period, it must have been ·02564 degree per foot, or one degree in 39 feet.