Question:
Which one among the following factors contributes the least amount of heat to the Earth's annual heat budget?
Which one among the following factors contributes the least amount of heat to the Earth's annual heat budget?
Show Hint
Remember: Earth's heat budget is overwhelmingly solar-driven. Minor contributors include geothermal flux and tidal friction. Earthquake energy, although spectacular locally, is negligible on a global annual scale.
Updated On: Aug 22, 2025
- Geothermal flux from Earth's interior
- Reflection and re-radiation of Solar energy
- Energy released from Earthquakes
- Rotational deceleration by Tidal friction
Hide Solution
Verified By Collegedunia
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Major contributors to Earth's heat budget.
The Earth's heat budget is dominated by solar radiation. The incoming solar radiation, its reflection, absorption, and re-radiation constitute the largest share of energy exchange. Step 2: Secondary contributors.
Other minor contributions come from geothermal flux (heat flow from Earth's interior due to radioactive decay and residual formation heat) and tidal friction (causing small dissipation of rotational energy as heat). Step 3: Earthquake energy release.
The global annual energy released by all earthquakes combined is negligible compared to geothermal heat or tidal dissipation. While individual large earthquakes release tremendous localized energy, the total annual contribution is extremely small relative to Earth's overall energy budget. Step 4: Comparison.
- Solar radiation (via reflection/re-radiation): Dominant component.
- Geothermal flux: Small, but continuous and measurable (~0.1 W/m$^2$ globally).
- Tidal friction: Even smaller, but still continuous.
- Earthquake energy release: Intermittent and minuscule compared to the above. \[ \therefore \ \text{The least contributor to the Earth's annual heat budget is energy released from earthquakes.} \] \[ \boxed{\text{Energy released from Earthquakes}} \]
The Earth's heat budget is dominated by solar radiation. The incoming solar radiation, its reflection, absorption, and re-radiation constitute the largest share of energy exchange. Step 2: Secondary contributors.
Other minor contributions come from geothermal flux (heat flow from Earth's interior due to radioactive decay and residual formation heat) and tidal friction (causing small dissipation of rotational energy as heat). Step 3: Earthquake energy release.
The global annual energy released by all earthquakes combined is negligible compared to geothermal heat or tidal dissipation. While individual large earthquakes release tremendous localized energy, the total annual contribution is extremely small relative to Earth's overall energy budget. Step 4: Comparison.
- Solar radiation (via reflection/re-radiation): Dominant component.
- Geothermal flux: Small, but continuous and measurable (~0.1 W/m$^2$ globally).
- Tidal friction: Even smaller, but still continuous.
- Earthquake energy release: Intermittent and minuscule compared to the above. \[ \therefore \ \text{The least contributor to the Earth's annual heat budget is energy released from earthquakes.} \] \[ \boxed{\text{Energy released from Earthquakes}} \]
Was this answer helpful?
0
0
Top Questions on Geothermics
Consider a steady-state heat conduction equation for the Earth’s crust where \( A \) is the heat source and \( k \) is the thermal conductivity. Given the boundary conditions: \( T = 0 \) at the surface and \( Q \) is the heat flux at the surface, Which one of the following options would be the temperature \( T \) at depth \( z \)?
- GATE GG - 2025
- Geophysics
- Geothermics
In the schematic, line P shows a 1-D geothermal profile. If the heat flow at the base of the mantle increases, which line will reflect the new geothermal profile?
- GATE GG - 2025
- Geophysics
- Geothermics
- Assume heat producing elements are uniformly distributed within a 16 km thick layer in the crust in a heat flow province. Given that the surface heat flow and reduced heat flow are 54 mW/m$^2$ and 22 mW/m$^2$, respectively, the radiogenic heat production in the given crustal layer in $\mu$W/m$^3$ is ________ (in integer).
- GATE GG - 2024
- Geophysics
- Geothermics
- Assume heat producing elements are uniformly distributed within a 16 km thick layer in the crust in a heat flow province. Given that the surface heat flow and reduced heat flow are 54 mW/m2 and 22 mW/m2, respectively, the radiogenic heat production in the given crustal layer in uW/m3 is_____.(in integer).
- GATE GG - 2024
- Geology
- Geothermics
Questions Asked in GATE GG exam
- Rohit goes to a restaurant for lunch at about 1 PM. When he enters the restaurant, he notices that the hour and minute hands on the wall clock are exactly coinciding. After about an hour, when he leaves the restaurant, he notices that the clock hands are again exactly coinciding. How much time (in minutes) did Rohit spend at the restaurant?
- The sum of the following infinite series is: \[ 1 + \frac{1}{1!} + \frac{1}{2!} + \frac{1}{3!} + \frac{1}{4!} + \frac{1}{5!} + \dots \]
- GATE CH - 2025
- GATE BT - 2025
- GATE GG - 2025
- Sequence and Series
- A thin wire is used to construct all the edges of a cube of 1 m side by bending, cutting, and soldering the wire. If the wire is 12 m long, what is the minimum number of cuts required to construct the wire frame to form the cube?
A color model is shown in the figure with color codes: Yellow (Y), Magenta (M), Cyan (Cy), Red (R), Blue (Bl), Green (G), and Black (K). Which one of the following options displays the color codes that are consistent with the color model?
- Consider a two-dimensional reflection experiment, where a horizontal boundary between two layers is at a depth of 500 m below the free surface. A source and geophone are placed on the free surface with an offset of 2000 m. The P-wave velocity of the top layer is 3000 m/s. The travel time of a recorded free-surface reflection multiple, which got reflected twice at the free surface, is ________ s.
- GATE GG - 2025
- Seismology
View More Questions