Deep Carbon: Underground Heat and Pressure
Inspect an illustrated coal seam two kilometres underground, with minerals, modeled pressure and temperature, heat flow and slow plate motion.
Read the conditions beneath the surface
Deep Carbon places bituminous coal in an illustrated seam two kilometres underground. Pressure and temperature readings give that depth a physical context. The More control exposes additional readings about heat flow, plate movement and the sky far above.
Drag to turn the scene, pinch or scroll to inspect it, and tap a crystal, the coal or a glow. The mineral legend connects the coloured surroundings with the materials being shown.
Separate the model from a measurement
The readings come from stated assumptions, not a live borehole. The exhibit uses a temperature gradient of 25 degrees Celsius per kilometre from a 15-degree surface, rock density of 2,500 kilograms per cubic metre and plate motion of five centimetres a year.
Glows are enlarged for visibility. Pale motes illustrate the path of pore water rather than its speed. Those choices make slow and hidden processes inspectable while keeping the scene distinct from a literal photograph or an exact geological forecast.