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Abstract: The deepest hole that has ever been dug is about 12km deep. Geochemists analyze samples from the Earth''s crust and from the top of the mantle. Seismology can reconstruct the density profile throughout all Earth, but not its composition. In this respect, our planet is mainly unexplored. Geo-neutrinos, the antineutrinos from the progenies of U, Th and 40K decays in the Earth, bring to the surface information from the whole planet, concerning its content of natural radioactive elements. Their detection can shed light on the sources of the terrestrial heat flow, on the present composition, and on the origins of the Earth. Geo-neutrinos represent a new probe of our planet, which can be exploited as a consequence of two fundamental advances that occurred in the last few years: the development of extremely low background neutrino detectors and the progress on understanding neutrino propagation. We review the status and the prospects of the field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We find that recent results from the KamLAND Collaboration on geologically produced antineutrinos, events, correspond to a radiogenic heat production from uranium and thorium decay chains . The 99% confidence limit on the geo-neutrino signal translates into the upper bound TW, which is much weaker than that claimed by KamLAND, , based on a too narrow class of geological models. We also performed an analysis of KamLAND data including recent high precision measurements of the 13C()16O cross section. The result, , corroborates the evidence () for geo-neutrinos in KamLAND data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In preparation to the experimental results which will be available in the future, we study geo-neutrino production for different models of mantle convection and composition. By using global mass balance for the Bulk Silicate Earth, the predicted flux contribution from distant sources in the crust and in the mantle is fixed within a total uncertainty of ±15%. We also discuss regional effects, provided by subducting slabs or plumes near the detector. In 4 years a 5-kton detector operating at a site relatively far from nuclear power plants can achieve measurements of the geo-neutrino signal accurate to within ±5%. It will provide a crucial test of the Bulk Silicate Earth and a direct estimate of the radiogenic contribution to terrestrial heat. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]