Literature Review
The Global Heat Flow Database (GHFDB) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of data quality. To achieve this, we have implemented a rigorous literature review process that ensures all datasets are thoroughly vetted before being made publicly available. To learn more about the review process and how you can contribute, please click the button below.
Persistent thermal activity at the Eastern Gulf of Aden after continental break-up
During the early stages in the formation of divergent margins, the lithosphere experiences large changes in temperature that can determine its strength and influence magma generation(1,2). This, in turn, may play a key role in continental rifting, break-up, and subsequent subsidence. Here we present surface heat-flow data from the Eastern Gulf of Aden, which is a recently formed divergent margin between Africa and Arabia(3). In the deeper parts of the margin the heat flow is high and constant, but it decreases abruptly near the shelf-slope. Our numerical models, in conjunction with geophysical and geological constraints, suggest that the data are …
The thermal regime of South African continental margins
We present thermal data from 100 oil exploration boreholes on the continental margins of South Africa. Near surface temperature profiles are constrained with temperatures acquired during reservoir tests, corrected bottom-hole temperatures and seafloor temperatures. The thermal conductivity profiles are estimated from geophysical well logs using a neural network method. Available data allow us to determine 41 new heat flow values computed from depth ranges greater than 1000 m, located on the western and southern continental margins of South Africa. We believe that the variations in surface heat flow are not controlled by the contribution of the sediments or the basement, …
Heat flow distribution in Chinese continent and its adjacent areas
Using a compilation of 6980 heat flow measurements, we produce a new heat flow map for the Chinese continent and its adjacent areas. We develop an objective and integrated method to interpolate the heat flow data, taking into account both the uniformity within geological units and coherency of regional heat flow. The geologic units are outlined based on Zhang et al.'s active tectonic block model. Our heat flow model is presented in two formats: a contour map and a heat flow dataset with values on a 1 x 1 x grid for the Chinese continent and its adjacent areas, reflecting …
Abbott Marine Heat Flow Compilation
Curie point depth from spectral analysis of aeromagnetic data from Cerro Prieto geothermal area, Baja California, México
Using aeromagnetic data acquired in the area from the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, we estimated the depth to the Curie point isotherm, interpreted as the base of the magnetic sources, following statistical spectral-based techniques. According to our results the Curie point isotherm is located at a depths ranging from 14 to 17 km. Our result is somewhat deeper than that obtained previously based only in 2-D and 3-D forward modeling of previous low-quality data. However, our results are supported by independent information comprising geothermal gradients, seismicity distribution in the crust, and gravity determined crustal thickness. Our results imply a high …
Surface heat flow and the mantle contribution on the margins of Australia
We present thermal data from 473 oil exploration wells in Australia and New Zealand. Approximately 2300 bottom-hole temperatures are corrected to form a homogeneous set along with 86 temperatures from reservoir tests. Thermal conductivity profiles are estimated from a set of geophysical well logs using a recently developed neural network approach. Retaining wells in which temperature and thermal conductivity data overlap over an interval greater than 1000 m, we estimate 10 heat flow values in the Taranaki basin of New Zealand and 270 values in the northwestern, western, and southern margins and in the intracontinental Canning basin of Australia. The …
Heat flow and lithospheric thermal regime in the Northeast German Basin
New values of surface heat flow are reported for 13 deep borehole locations in the Northeast German Basin (NEGB) ranging from 68 to 91 MW m(-2) with a mean of 77 +/- 3 MW m(-2). The values are derived from continuous temperature logs, measured thermal conductivity, and log-derived radiogenic heat production. The heat-flow values are supposed free of effects from surface palaeoclimatic temperature variations, from regional as well as local fluid flow and from thermal refraction in the vicinity of salt structures and thus represent unperturbed crustal heat flow. Two-D numerical lithospheric thermal models are developed for a 500 km …
Teplovoj potok vostochnoj chasti Kavkazskoj zony kollizii (Heat flow in the eastern part of the Caucasian collision zone )
Large heat and fluid fluxes driven through mid-plate outcrops on ocean crust
Hydrothermal circulation on the sea floor at mid-ocean ridge flanks extracts similar to 30% of heat from the oceanic lithosphere on a global basis(1) and a V ects numerous tectonic, magmatic and biogeochemical processes(2-4). However, the magnitude, mechanisms and implications of regional-scale fluid and heat flow on mid-ocean ridge flanks are poorly understood. Here we analyse swath-map, seismic and sea-floor heat-flux data to quantify the heat and fluid discharge through a few widely spaced basement outcrops on the Cocos Plate. Heat removed by conduction from a 14,500 square kilometre region of the sea floor is 60-90% lower than that predicted …
Assessment of Geothermal Resources in Israel
Heat flow distribution on the floor of Nankai Trough off Kumano and implications for the geothermal regime of subducting sediments
Heat flow and crustal thermal structure in the Late Archaean Closepet Granite batholith, south India
The Late Archaean Closepet Granite batholith in south India is exposed at different crustal levels grading from greenschist facies in the north through amphibolite and granulite facies in the south along a similar to 400 km long segment in the Dharwar craton. Two areas, Pavagada and Magadi, located in the Main Mass of the batholith, best represent the granitoid of the greenschist and amphibolite facies crustal levels respectively. Heat flow estimates of 38 mW m(-2) from Pavagada and 25 mW m(-2) from Magadi have been obtained through measurements in deep (430 and 445 m) and carefully sited boreholes. Measurements made …
Regional and local geothermal conditions in the northern Black Sea
Heat Flow and Geothermal Potential in the South-Central United States
Geothermal exploration is typically limited to high-grade hydrothermal reservoirs that are usually found in the western United States, yet large areas with subsurface temperatures above 150°C at economic drilling depths can be found east of the Rocky Mountains. The object of this paper is to present new heat flow data and to evaluate the geothermal potential of Texas and adjacent areas. The new data show that, west of the Ouachita Thrust Belt, the heat flow values are lower than east of the fault zone. Basement heat flow values for the Palo Duro and Fort Worth Basins are below 50 mW/m2 …
Heat flow in the Altai-Sayan Area: new data
Eleven new estimates of heat flow (q) from the southern Altai-Sayan Folded Area (ASFA) have provided update to the heat flow map of Gorny Altai. Measured heat flow in the area varies from 33 to 90 mW/m(2), with abnormal values of >70 mW/m(2) at four sites. The anomalies may have a deep source only at the Aryskan site in the East Sayan (q = 77 mW/m(2)) while high heat flows of 75-90 mW/m(2) obtained for the Mesozoic Belokurikha and Kalguty plutons appear rather to result from high radiogenic heat production in granite, which adds a 25-30 W/m(2) radiogenic component to …
Heat flow studies in India during the Past Five Decades
Heat flow variation with depth in Poland: evidence from equilibrium temperature logs in 2.9-km-deep well Torun-1
The surface heat flow of the Arabian Shield in Jordan
Surface heat flow in southern Jordan (western part of the Arabian Plate) was determined in a dense cluster of five, up to 900-m-deep boreholes that have encountered sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic (Ordovician and Silurian) age. These rocks are underlain by an igneous and metamorphic basement, which has been studied for its radiogenic heat production, along the eastern margin of the Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault system. The heat flow, calculated from continuous temperature logs and laboratory-measured thermal conductivity of drillcores and surface samples, averages to 60.3 +/- 3.4 mW m(-2) and contrasts the common view of the late Proterozoic-consolidated Arabian …