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.
New heat flow data from the immediate vicinity of the Kola super-deep borehole: Vertical variation in heat flow confirmed and attributed to advection
We present new heat flow values and other geothermal data in the upper crystalline crust in the immediate vicinity of the 12.4-km deep Kola super-deep borehole, NW Russia. Our results show a systematic vertical increase in geothermal gradient and heat flow density as deep as we could measure (1.6 km). Our results confirm earlier results on vertical heat flow trends of in the uppermost part of the Kola super-deep hole, and imply that the thermal regime is not in steady-state conductive conditions. In an area of 3-km x 5-km measurements were performed in 1-2-km deep boreholes surrounding the Kola super-deep …
Geothermal field and its relation with coalbed methane distribution of the Qinshui Basin
The average geothermal gradient in the Qinshui Basin, Shanxi Province, North China, estimated from temperature logging data of 20 boreholes is 28.2 +/- 1.03 degrees C/km. The thermal conductivities of 39 rock samples are measured and 20 heat flow values are obtained. The estimated heat flow ranges from 44.75 mW/m(2) to 101.81 mW/m(2), with a mean of 62.69 +/- 15.20 mW/m(2). The thermal history reconstruction from the inversion of vitrinite data, using Thermodel for Windows 2004, reveals that the average paleo-heat flow at the time of maximum burial in late Jurassic to early Cretaceous is 158.41 mW/m(2) for the north …
High-resolution heat-flow measurements in the Southern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia
In June 1999, I undertook a series of heat-flow measurements in the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia. The measurements involved precision temperature logging of stratigraphic boreholes, and thermal conductivity measurements on core samples. Results indicate that the surface heat flow in the onshore Southern Carnarvon Basin is about 55 mW/m(2). This is 3.5 mW/m(2) less than the average heat flow in the Dampier Sub-basin, suggesting that the lithosphere beneath the Dampier Sub-basin may still retain heat from the Mid-Jurassic rifting event. The precision temperature logs suggest that the ground surface temperature across the Gascoyne Region is about 6 degrees C …
Украинский щит (геофизика, глубинные процессы) Ukrainian Shield (geophysics, depth processes)
Heat flow and bending-related faulting at subduction trenches: Case studies offshore of Nicaragua and Central Chile
Detailed heat flow surveys on the oceanic trench slope offshore Nicaragua and Central Chile indicate heat flow values lower than the expected conductive lithospheric heat loss and lower than the global mean for crust of that age. Both areas are characterised by pervasive normal faults exposing basement in a setting affected by bending-related faulting due to plate subduction. The low heat flow is interpreted to indicate increased hydrothermal circulation by the reactivation and new creation of faults prior to subduction. A previous global approach (1) (Stein C.A., Heat flow and flexure at subduction zones, Geophys. Res. Lett. 30 (2003) doi:10.1029/2003GL018478) …
Low heat flow from young oceanic lithosphere at the Middle America Trench off Mexico
Seismic reflection profiles across the Middle America Trench at 20 degrees N show a high amplitude bottom simulating reflector interpreted as marking a phase transition between methane hydrate and free gas in the pore space of both accreted and trench sediments. We determine the depth of the hydrate-gas phase boundary in order to estimate the geothermal gradient and hence the heat flow beneath the trench and the frontal part of the accretionary wedge which overlies the downgoing plate. After correction for sedimentation, heat flow values in the trench and through the accretionary wedge are only about half of the values …
La structure thermique de la lithosphére continentale: á l'heure actuelle et dans le passé
The background of the geothermal field for formation of abnormal high pressure in the northeastern Sichuan Basin
Based on available borehole temperature logging and thermal conductivity measurement of core samples in the northeastern Sichuan Basin, we have estimated 12 terrestrial heat flow values. The results show that the present-day geothermal gradients ranges from 18 to 25 degrees C/km, with an average of 21 degrees C/km, and that the present-day heat flow varies from 41 to 57 mW/m(2), with a mean of 49 mW/m(2). Thermal history reconstruction in the northeastern Sichuan basin using vitrinite reflectance data indicates that the paleo-heat flow reached the maximum values (62 similar to 70 mW/m(2)) around 255Ma, and then decreased till present. The …
Tektonika, glubinnoe stroenie, metallogenija oblasti sochlenenija central'no aziatskogo i tihookeanskogo pojasov Ob"jasnitel'naja zapiska k Tektonicheskoj karte masshtaba 1:5000000 (Tectonics, deep structure, metallogeny of the junction area of the Central Asian and Pacific belts Explanatory note to the Tectonic Map at a scale of 1: 5000000 )
Heat flow, thermal regime, and elastic thickness of the lithosphere in the Trans-Hudson Orogen
Heat flow studies on the exposed part of the Trans-Hudson Orogen (THO) in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan allow constraints on crustal composition and lithosphere structure. The average of all heat flow values in the THO is the same as in other geological provinces of the Canadian Shield. However, where juvenile crust is exposed, heat flow is on average lower than in the Superior and Grenville provinces (37 vs. 41 mW m(-2)). Heat flow increases towards the surrounding Archean provinces, Rae-Hearne to the west, Sask to the south, and Superior to the east. There are strong differences in heat flow within …
Geothermal gradient and heat flow in the state of Rio de Janeiro
Relation of measured basal temperatures and the spatial distribution of the geothermal heat flux for the Greenland ice sheet
The thermornechanical, three-dimensional ice-sheet model SICOPOLIS is applied to the Greenland ice sheet. Simulations over two glacial-interglacial cycles are carried out, driven by a climatic forcing interpolated between present conditions and Last Glacial Maximum anomalies. Based on the global heat-flow representation by Pollack and others (1993), we attempt to constrain the spatial pattern of the geothermal heat flux by comparing simulation results to direct measurements of basal temperatures at the GRIP, NorthGRIP, Camp Century and Dye 3 ice-core locations. The obtained heat-flux map shows an increasing trend from west to east, a high-heat-flux anomaly around NorthGRIP with values up to …
Determination of seafloor temperatures using data from high-resolution marine heat probes
Marine heat flow surveys typically utilize Lister-type heat probes, which allow multi-penetrations to measure both temperature and thermal conductivity in situ. The temperature rise resulting from penetration friction must first be removed in order to obtain the equilibrium temperature and the thermal conductivity of the sediments. However, the time needed to return to the original sediment temperature may be very long. Using high-resolution heat probes, temperatures with resolution of 0.1 mK were obtained within the first few meters below the seafloor off southwestern Taiwan. This research introduces an improved data processing technique that can extrapolate friction-raised temperature to infinite time …
A note on the heat flow studies at Sohagpur and Raniganj coalfield areas, India
Exploration and Assessment of Geothermal Resources at in Hepu Basin in Guangxi
Heat flow measurement in shallow seas through long-term temperature monitoring
It is difficult to obtain reliable heat flow values in shallow sea areas where the bottom water temperature is not stable. We attempted to measure heat flow in shallow seas by monitoring temperature profiles in sediments, using pop-up type instruments with 2 m long temperature probes. Long-term temperature records for over 200 days were obtained at four stations off southwest Japan. Analysis of the data showed the bottom water temperature variations (BTV) were propagated through sediments by thermal diffusion only. We could then remove the influence of BTV from the temperature records and determine the heat flow, though the effect …
Teplovoe pole Juzhnogo Urala (Thermal field of the South Urals )
Numerical and functional representations of regional heat flow in South America
A summary of heat flow data acquired over recent years in several areas in the eastern (Brazil and Paraguay) and western (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador) parts of South American continent are presented. The improvements in the database have allowed numerical representations of heat flow for southeastern and central segments of the Precambrian fold belts in Brazil, Central Andean cordilleras in Chile and Bolivia, Southern Volcanic arc in Peru, Neuqu6n Province in southwestern Argentina, Chaco basin in Paraguay, Oriente basin in Ecuador and the system of pericratonic basins in north central Colombia. The maps reveal considerable variability in heat flow, …