USGS CMG InfoBank: Relationship Between the Earth's Heat Engines

Source: Annenberg/CPB Resources - Earth Revealed - 1. Down to Earth

Keywords: "heat engine", mountain, erosion

Our transcription: The Earth's two heat engines do not work in isolation.

Instead, they perform a kind of ongoing balancing act.

Mountains originally raised by the Earth's internal forces are worn away by weathering and erosion, driven by the external heat engine.

These heat engines working together provide the fuel for this enormously complex machine we call "Earth", and it is the detailed workings of this dynamic planet that geologists are continually trying to better understand.