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.
Topographically driven groundwater flow and the San Andreas heat flow paradox revisited
(1) Evidence for a weak San Andreas Fault includes (1) borehole heat flow measurements that show no evidence for a frictionally generated heat flow anomaly and (2) the inferred orientation of sigma(1) nearly perpendicular to the fault trace. Interpretations of the stress orientation data remain controversial, at least in close proximity to the fault, leading some researchers to hypothesize that the San Andreas Fault is, in fact, strong and that its thermal signature may be removed or redistributed by topographically driven groundwater flow in areas of rugged topography, such as typify the San Andreas Fault system. To evaluate this scenario, …
Deep-ocean temperature variations and implications for errors in seafloor heat flow determinations
(1) The accuracy with which seafloor heat flow is determined depends on the temporal stability of bottom water temperature. Indirect tests for stability are provided most commonly by observing the uniformity of heat flow with depth. This criterion is met to a high degree of certainty at two sites in the eastern North Pacific Ocean, where colocated high-quality probe and borehole heat flow data can be compared. A more direct test for stability is provided by long-term observations of bottom water temperature. Previously published records and new data show temperature variations of only a few hundredths of a degree at …
Heat flow measurements at the super-slow spreading gakkel-ridge, Arctic ocean
Heat flow and heat production in the Precambrian gneiss-granulite province of southern India
Towards a crustal thermal model for the Archaean Dharwar craton, southern India
New heat flow and heat production data from the Archaean Dharwar craton of southern Indian shield refine crustal thermal models and mantle heat flow estimates. The terrain comprises greenstone-granite belts and gneisses, which give way to granulites farther south. Low heat flow, generally spanning a range from 25 to 51 mWm(-2) with a mean of 36 mWm(-2) characterizes the craton. However the radiogenic heat production of surface rocks varies widely, from 0.2 to 8 muW m(-3). Based on considerations of heat flow, regional geology, crustal sections constrained by deep seismic sounding and gravity data, and extensive heat production data for …
High mantle heat flow in a Precambrian granulite province: Evidence from southern India
(1) Twelve new heat flow values determined at nine sites and heat production estimated from radioelemental measurements at 330 sites in the southern granulite province (SGP) bring out contrasting crustal and subcrustal thermal characteristics between the SGP and the adjacent Archaean Dharwar greenstone-granite-gneiss province (DP) in south India. A two-layer granulitic crust of Late Archaean charnockites and gneisses characterizes the northern block (NB), north of the Palghat-Cauvery lineament (PCL). The heat production of the upper, 7-10 km thick, metasomatized granulitic layer ranges between 0.2 and 0.75 m W m(-3) (mean 0.5 +/- 0.3 (SD) muW m(-3)). This layer overlies radioelement-depleted …
Ins and outs on the ocean floor
Researchers investigating heat exchange between the ocean floor and the ocean have various long-standing issues to tackle. The latest measurements of heat flux in hydrothermally active crust will add to these debates.
Characteristics of surface heat flow in the South China Sea
A total of 592 heat flow measurements, ranging from 8 to 192 mW/m(2), 78 percent of which are between 50 and 100 mW/m(2), have been collected in the South China Sea (SCS). To overcome shortcomings such as the uneven distribution of the measurements and the occurrence of abnormal heat flow values, the tectonic evolution of different areas and their crustal thickness have been combined in analyzing geothermal characters. The results show that the oceanic basins, where they are floored by oceanic crust, the western part of the southern margin and the western fault system have high heat flow values. Heat …
Atypical heat-flow near gas hydrate irregularities and cold seeps in the Baikal Rift Zone
In this paper, we address the irregular behaviour and geometry of the gas hydrate stability zone (HSZ) inferred from reflection seismic data in relation to heat-flow measurements. The study area lies in the hanging wall of the Posolsky fault in the Southern Baikal Basin (SBB). Side-scan sonar imagery already revealed an undulating antithetic active fault structure and several isolated active vent structures. Remarkably, these fluid discharge structures occur only where the base of the hydrate stability zone (BHSZ), as inferred from seismic reflection profiles, is fluctuating and discontinuous, independent of lake floor morphology. The correlation between the interpreted BHSZ and …
Atlas of geothermal resources in Europe
The geothermal resources of most European countries have been estimated and compiled in the recently published Atlas of Geothermal Resources in Europe, a companion volume to the Atlas of Geothermal Resources in the European Community, Austria and Switzerland. Publication of this Atlas comes at a time when the promotion of a sustainable and non-polluting energy is high on the agenda of local energy suppliers, municipal administrations and all European governments. The participating countries are: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, …
Geothermal regime in the Qaidam basin, northeast Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
The thermal properties of rocks in the upper crust of the Qaidam basin are given based on measurements of 98 thermal conductivities and 50 heat production values. Nineteen new measured heat flow data were obtained from thermal conductivity data and systematic steady-state temperature data. This paper contributes 28 calculated heat flow values for the basin for the first time. Examination of 47 heat flow values, ranging from 31.3 to 70.4 mW/m(2) with an average value of 52.6 +/- 9.6 mW/m(2), gives the heat flow distribution character of the basin: high heat flows over 60 mW/m(2) are distributed in the western …
Conductive heat flow variations from bottom-simulating reflectors on the Hikurangi margin, New Zealand
(1) Bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs) represent the base of a gas hydrate zone underlain by widespread free gas. The extent of BSRs (> 40,000 km(2)) has been mapped on the continental slope of the Hikurangi margin using industry and research seismic data. A conductive model was used to calculate heat flow from the depth of the BSR to the surface. A regional trend is observed, in which heat flow, uncorrected for sedimentation effects, decreases from an average of similar to 50 mW m(-2) at the toe of the accretionary prism to similar to35 mW m(-2) at a distance 100 km …
Eurasia spreading basin to Laptev Shelf transition: structural pattern and heat flow
New geophysical data have become available from shipborne and satellite measurements allowing a re-evaluation of the largely unknown junction of the Arctic spreading centre and the northeastern Siberian continental margin where the transpolar mid-ocean Gakkel Ridge abuts against the continental slope of the Laptev Sea. Based on multichannel seismic reflection and gravity data, this sediment-covered spreading axis can be traced to the continental rise where it is cut-off by a transcurrent fault. Further continuation of the extensional axis into the continental slope can be attributed to two asymmetric grabens, which terminate against the prominent Khatanga-Lomonosov Fracture. Remnants of hydrothermal fauna …
Heat flow over the descending Nazca plate in central Chile, 32 degrees S to 41 degrees S: observations from ODP Leg 202 and the occurrence of natural gas hydrates
Bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs) were detected in multichannel seismic reflection data acquired in the vicinity of Isla Mocha across the southern Chile margin and near 33 degreesS. Geothermal gradients were determined from the depth of the BSR that is interpreted to mark the thermally controlled base of a gas hydrate layer. Ground truth for the assessment and additional thermal constraints were provided by downhole measurements obtained during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 202 in Site 1233 at 41 degreesS and Sites 1234 and 1235 near 36 degreesS. Both BSR-derived data and downhole temperatures were used to calculate heat flow anomalies …
Thermal tomography of the West Arctic basin
Geothermal modeling of the nonstationary thermal field in the crust and the lithosphere was carried out along 123 seismic tomography geotraverses across the Barents and Kara seas and the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean. The thermal structure of the lithosphere in the geologic past and at present was deduced. Three-dimensional temperature and heat flow distribution models were compiled in the latitude-longitude-depth coordinates. The depth to the oil window was estimated. Paleotemperatures were determined for the period when the principal offshore oil fields were formed, and the relationship between oil field locations and heat flow distribution was detected.
Temperatures at the base of the Laurentide Ice Sheet inferred from borehole temperature data
(1) We use temperature profiles from 4 deep (> 1600 m) boreholes across Canada to determine ground surface temperature histories (GSTH's) through and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Inversion yields the temperature history at the base of the glacier and the surface temperature evolution after the glacial retreat. The results indicate geographic differences in basal temperature history across the Ice Sheet. During the Last Glacial Maximum, temperatures at the base of the Ice Sheet were lower in eastern Canada, at the southeastern edge of the glacier, than in central Canada, southwest of the glacier center. At all sites, basal …
Distribution characteristics of geotemperature field in Jiyang depression, Shandong, North China
Based on the analysis of geotemperature data derived from 703 exploration wells in the Jiyang depression of the Shengli oilfield, Shandong, North China, in combination with corresponding geothermal calculations, we present the geothermal field distribution characteristics of this region, which include the plane contour plots of geothermal gradient present day, geotemperature at depths 3km, 4km and 5km, respectively, as well as the top surface of lower Tertiary Es_ 4 formation of Jiyang depression. The results show that the average geothermal gradient present day of the whole Jiyang depression is about 35.5℃/km, the corresponding gradients of its four main sags, i.e. …
New heat flow data from the immediate vicinity of the Kola superdeep borehole
Taking the temperature of the Lucky Strike area
Heat flow in the western Superior Province of the Canadian shield
(1) We present new heat flow measurements from deep boreholes at 9 sites, northwest of Lake Superior, in Ontario. The new measurements drastically change the heat flow map in the Western Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. Previous maps relied heavily on shallow (2.5 m) measurements in sediments beneath small lakes and exhibited high heat flow anomalies (>60 mW m(-2)). The new heat flow values between 31 and 56 mW m(-2) are well within the range of values in the eastern part of the Superior and in other Archean provinces. Without the shallow lake data, the mean heat flow from …