Paleogeothermal Gradients across an Inverted Hyperextended Rift System (Mauléon Fossil Rift,Western Pyrenees)

<p>Examples of fossil and present-day passive margins resulting from mantle exhumation at the ocean–continent transition appear to have developed under conditions of high mantle heat flow. The pattern of geothermal gradients along these hyperextended margins at the time of rifting is of interest for exploration of geothermal and petroleum resources, but is difficult to access. The fossil rift in the North Pyrenean Zone, which underwent high temperature–low pressure metamorphism and alkaline magmatism during Early Cretaceous hyperextension, was studied to explore the geothermal regime at the time of rifting. Data from a set of 155 samples from densely spaced outcrops and boreholes, analyzed using Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material, shed light on the distribution of geothermal gradients across the inverted hyperextended Mauléon rift basin during Albian and Cenomanian time, its period of active extension. The estimated paleogeothermal gradient is strongly related to the structural position along the Albian-Cenomanian rift, increasing along a proximal-distal margin transect from ~34°C/km in the European proximal margin to ~37–47°C/km in the two necking zones and 57–60°C/km in the hyperextended domain. This pattern of the paleogeothermal gradient induced a complex competition between brittle and ductile deformation during crustal extension. A numerical modeling approach reproducing the thermal evolution of the North Pyrenees since 120 Ma suggests that mantle heat flow values may have peaked up to 100 mW.m-2 during the rifting event. We demonstrate that the style of reactivation during subsequent convergence influences the thermal structure of the inverted rift system.</p>

Radioactive Heat Production and Terrestrial Heat Flow in the Xiong’an Area, North China

Herein, integrated heat production analysis in the Xiong’an area was conducted by measuring uranium, thorium, and potassium in different rock types to clarify crust heat flow contribution, simulate the conductive terrestrial heat flow, and illustrate heat source mechanisms of Xiong’an area geothermal resources. The study area was divided into three lithosphere structure types from west to east, and heat production corresponded to layer thickness and heat production with the central area having thicker crust and lower heat production than the eastern and western areas. Crustal heat production, mantle heat flow, and crust–mantle heat flow ratio reveal a ‘cold crust-hot mantle’ in the Xiong’an area.

A new spatially continuous basement heat flow map for NW Queensland

A recently released open file study of the depth-to-basement and basement heat flow is presented, which covers the Queensland portion of the South Nicholson Basin and includes basins underlying the Lawn Hill Platform and Georgina Basin. The present-day basement heat flow model is derived from an analysis of basement composition, structure and history, with the crustal radiogenic and mantle heat flow assessed separately. Resulting from an integrated, iterative interpretation and analysis of a wide range of publicly available spatially continuous geophysical and geological datasets, the heat flow model reproduces faithfully sharp and high-amplitude variations of the published heat flow at small distances. Variations are replicated through the integration of interpreted basement composition and a geologically driven determination of heat production within the radiogenic crustal layer. The values of mantle heat flow based on lithosphere thickness derived from seismic tomography models are consistent with published stable mantle heat flow under terranes of similar age. The long-wavelength regional variations can be attributed to the change in the thickness of the lithosphere. Regionally, the highest values of heat flow are found where radiogenic crust is the thickest and the composition is interpreted to comprise radiogenic intrusives.

Present-day geothermal regime of the Uliastai Depression, Erlian Basin, North China

In this study, we calculated the present-day terrestrial heat flow of the Uliastai Depression in Erlian Basin by using systematical steady-state temperature data obtained from four deep boreholes and 89 thermal conductivity measurements from 22 boreholes. Then, we calculated the lithospheric thermal structure, thermal lithospheric thickness, and lithospheric thermo-rheological structure by combining crustal structure, thermal conductivity, heat production, and rheological parameter data. Research from the Depression shows that the present-day terrestrial heat flow ( qs) is 86.3 ± 2.3 mW/m2, higher than the average of 60.4 ± 12.3 mW/m2 of the continental area of China. Mantle heat flow ( qm) in the Depression ranges from 33.7 to 39.3 mW/m2, qm/ qs ranges from 40 to 44%, show that the crust plays the dominant position in the terrestrial heat flow. The thermal thickness of the lithosphere is about 74–88 km and characterized by a “strong crust–weak mantle” rheological characteristic. The total lithospheric strength is 1.5 × 1012 N/m under wet mantle conditions. Present-day geothermal regime indicates that the Uliastai Depression has a high thermal background, the activity of the deep-seated lithosphere is relatively intense. This result differs significantly from the earlier understanding that the area belongs to a cold basin. However, a hot basin should be better consistent with the evidences from lithochemistry and geophysical observations. The results also show the melts/fluids in the study area may be related to the subduction of the Paleo-Asian Ocean. The study of the geothermal regime in the Uliastai Depression provides new geothermal evidence for the volcanic activity in the eastern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and has significant implications for the geodynamic characteristics.

Heat flow, seismic cut-off depth and thermal modeling of the Fennoscandian Shield

Summary Being far from plate boundaries but covered with seismograph networks, the Fennoscandian Shield features an ideal test laboratory for studies of intraplate seismicity. For this purpose, this study applies 4190 earthquake events from years 2000–2015 with magnitudes ranging from 0.10 to 5.22 in Finnish and Swedish national catalogues. In addition, 223 heat flow determinations from both countries and their immediate vicinity were used to analyse the potential correlation of earthquake focal depths and the spatially interpolated heat flow field. Separate subset analyses were performed for five areas of notable seismic activity: the southern Gulf of Bothnia coast of Sweden (area 1), the northern Gulf of Bothnia coast of Sweden (area 2), the Swedish Norrbotten and western Finnish Lapland (area 3), the Kuusamo region of Finland (area 4) and the southernmost Sweden (area 5). In total, our subsets incorporated 3619 earthquake events. No obvious relation of heat flow and focal depth exists, implying that variations of heat flow are primarily caused by shallow lying heat producing units instead of deeper sources. This allows for construction of generic geotherms for the range of representative palaeoclimatically corrected (steady-state) surface heat flow values (40–60 mW m−2). The 1-D geotherms constructed for a three-layer crust and lithospheric upper mantle are based on mantle heat flow constrained with the aid of mantle xenolith thermobarometry (9–15 mW m−2), upper crustal heat production values (3.3–1.1 μWm−3) and the brittle-ductile transition temperature (350 °C) assigned to the cut-off depth of seismicity (28 ± 4 km). For the middle and lower crust heat production values of 0.6 and 0.2 μWm−3 were assigned, respectively. The models suggest a Moho temperature range of 460–500 °C.

Entropy-information perspective to radiogenic heat distribution in continental crust

Depth distribution of radiogenic heat sources in continental crust is an important parameter that controls its thermal structure as well as the mantle heat flow at the base of continental lithosphere. Various models for the depth distribution of radiogenic heat sources have been proposed. Starting from constant and exponential models based on linear heat flow–heat generation relationship the present-day layered models integrate crustal structure and laboratory measurements of radiogenic heat sources in various exposed rocks representing crustal composition. In the present work, an extended entropy theory formalism is used for estimation of radiogenic heat sources distribution in continental crust based on principle of maximum entropy (POME). The extended entropy principle yields a constant heat generation model if only a constraint given by total radiogenic heat in the crust is used and an exponential form of radiogenic heat sources distribution if an additional constraint in the form of a second moment is used in the minimization of entropy.

Heat flow and deep temperatures in the Southeast Basin of France: Implications for local rheological contrasts

Triassic salt at 5–10 km depth may drive some of the recent tectonic features in southeastern France. We estimate the likely temperature range of the salt using two different approaches. The first of these, based on the extrapolation of deep temperatures obtained in oil exploration wells, predicts temperatures at a depth of 8 km to be in the range of 230–300°C. However, this prediction could be biased by a lack of deep measurements and problems related to lateral heat transfer caused by thermal conductivity contrasts. The second approach can overcome these problems by modelling the actual heat transfer for appropriate basin geometry, including temperature-dependent thermal properties, and a mantle heat flow of 35 mW.m−2. This latter value enables us to reproduce available temperature measurements and surface heat flow data. Here we evaluate the stationary temperature field along two sections constrained by seismic profiles, one at a local scale across the Vistrenque graben and the other at a more regional scale across the Southeast Basin. Our findings suggest that the temperatures in the deepest parts of the evaporitic layer (11 km depth) can reach up to 398°C, but can be as low as 150°C on the edge of the basin at the top of the salty layer. This temperature difference leads to important changes in salt viscosity. Results indicate that at a depth of 8 km, lateral viscosity contrasts within the evaporitic layer may reach 40. Such rheological contrasts might favour and amplify local subsidence, as seems to have been the case near the two Palaeogene half-grabens of Vistrenque and Valence, where deep hot zones are identified.