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Geosciences
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Marine Heat Flow Measurements
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Marine Heat Flow Measurements

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2020) | Viewed by 12067

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Norbert Kaul

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Klagenfurter Str. 2-4, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Interests: heat flow and gas hydrates; diffuse venting; venting and biology; sub-seafloor biology and hydrothermal criculation; mineral and energy transport by hydrothermal circulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine heat flow has been used to understand global energy budgets and regional tectonics. Substantial effort has been made to clarify the age dependency of heat flow and to model subduction processes and their thermal behaviour. Only in recent years have we discovered the enormous impact created by hydrothermal circulation. This not only includes the spectacular black smokers near mid-ocean ridges, but encompasses widespread low-temperature fluid flow. It is now time to shed light on those less spectacular but widespread hydrothermal processes—feeding dark energy into the ocean crust, degrading gas hydrates on continental margins, thawing ice sheets in polar-regions, and creating habitats for microbes and mesofauna in an uninhabitable deep-sea world.

Marine heat flow is an excellent tool to detect any sort of advection, whether in pore water, mud, or landslides of different scales. Often, the corresponding field data look unusual and seem to be incompatible with a conductive heat flow concept.

I would like to encourage any interested researchers to take a closer look at their data and contribute any interesting hypotheses for broader community discussion.

Dr. Norbert Kaul
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geosciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Gas hydrate degradation
  • Leaking faults
  • Heat flow and mud diapirism
  • Diffuse fluid flow
  • Dark energy, life below the sea floor

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 80486 KiB  
Article
Heat Flow Measurements at the Danube Deep-Sea Fan, Western Black Sea
by Michael Riedel, Jörg Bialas, Heinrich Villinger, Thomas Pape, Matthias Haeckel and Gerhard Bohrmann
Geosciences 2021, 11(6), 240; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11060240 - 2 Jun 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2833
Abstract
Seafloor heat flow measurements are utilized to determine the geothermal regime of the Danube deep-sea fan in the western Black Sea and are presented in the larger context of regional gas hydrate occurrences. Heat flow data were collected across paleo-channels in water depths [...] Read more.
Seafloor heat flow measurements are utilized to determine the geothermal regime of the Danube deep-sea fan in the western Black Sea and are presented in the larger context of regional gas hydrate occurrences. Heat flow data were collected across paleo-channels in water depths of 550–1460 m. Heat flow across levees ranges from 25 to 30 mW m−2 but is up to 65 mW m−2 on channel floors. Gravity coring reveals sediment layers typical of the western Black Sea, consisting of three late Pleistocene to Holocene units, notably red clay within the lowermost unit cored. Heat flow derived from the bottom-simulating reflector (BSR), assumed to represent the base of the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ), deviates from seafloor measurements. These discrepancies are linked either to fast sedimentation or slumping and associated variations in sediment physical properties. Topographic effects account of up to 50% of heat flow deviations from average values. Combined with climate-induced variations in seafloor temperature and sea-level since the last glacial maximum large uncertainties in the prediction of the base of the GHSZ remain. A regional representative heat flow value is ~30 mW m−2 for the study region but deviations from this value may be up to 100%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Heat Flow Measurements)
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24 pages, 10893 KiB  
Article
Thermal Effects at Continent-Ocean Transform Margins: A 3D Perspective
by Daniel W. Schmid, Karthik Iyer and Ebbe H. Hartz
Geosciences 2021, 11(5), 193; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11050193 - 29 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1843
Abstract
Continental breakup along transform margins produces a sequence of (1) continent-continent, (2) continent-oceanic, (3) continent-ridge, and (4) continent-oceanic juxtapositions. Spreading ridges are the main sources of heat, which is then distributed by diffusion and advection. Previous work focused on the thermal evolution of [...] Read more.
Continental breakup along transform margins produces a sequence of (1) continent-continent, (2) continent-oceanic, (3) continent-ridge, and (4) continent-oceanic juxtapositions. Spreading ridges are the main sources of heat, which is then distributed by diffusion and advection. Previous work focused on the thermal evolution of transform margins built on 2D numerical models. Here we use a 3D FEM model to obtain the first order evolution of temperature, uplift/subsidence, and thermal maturity of potential source rocks. Snapshots for all four transform phases are provided by 2D sections across the margin. Our 3D approach yields thermal values that lie in between the previously established 2D end-member models. Additionally, the 3D model shows heat transfer into the continental lithosphere across the transform margin during the continental-continental transform stage ignored in previous studies. The largest values for all investigated quantities in the continental area are found along the transform segment between the two ridges, with the maximum values occurring near the transform-ridge corner of the trailing continental edge. This boundary segment records the maximum thermal effect up to 100 km distance from the transform. We also compare the impact of spreading rates on the thermal distribution within the lithosphere. The extent of the perturbation into the continental areas is reduced in the faster models due to the reduced exposure times. The overall pattern is similar and the maximum values next to the transform margin is essentially unchanged. Varying material properties in the upper crust of the continental areas has only a minor influence. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Heat Flow Measurements)
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27 pages, 9892 KiB  
Article
Burial and Heat Flux Modelling along a Southern Vøring Basin Transect: Implications for the Petroleum Systems and Thermal Regimes in the Deep Mid-Norwegian Sea
by Tiago Abreu Cunha, Henrik Rasmussen, Heinrich Villinger and Akinniyi Akintoye Akinwumiju
Geosciences 2021, 11(5), 190; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11050190 - 27 Apr 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2120
Abstract
A key aspect on the evolution of rifted terranes and the prospectivity of the overlying sedimentary basins is heat. Temperature determines the deformation regime of crustal and mantle rocks and, thus, the style of rifting and geometry of rift basins. The generation of [...] Read more.
A key aspect on the evolution of rifted terranes and the prospectivity of the overlying sedimentary basins is heat. Temperature determines the deformation regime of crustal and mantle rocks and, thus, the style of rifting and geometry of rift basins. The generation of hydrocarbons from organic-rich rocks and reservoir conditions depend primarily on temperature. In this study, we model the thermal–burial history of the southern Vøring Basin (Mid-Norway Margin) along a regional transect (2-D), integrating basin- and lithospheric-scale processes. A model that accounts for the main extensional pulses that shaped the Mid-Norway Margin is in good general agreement with the present–past geothermal gradients inferred from borehole temperature and maturity data and the surface heat flux measurements in the proximal and intermediate margin. This supports a near steady-state, post-rift margin setting, following the break-up in the early Eocene. Significant discrepancies are, however, observed in the distal margin, where the borehole temperatures suggest (much) higher thermal gradients than model predicted and implied by the average surface heat flux. We speculate that the higher thermal gradients may result from deep-seated (mantle dynamics) thermal anomalies and/or recurrent hydrothermalism during periods of greater tectonic stress (regional compression and glacial loading rebound) and test the implications for the maturity of the Vøring Basin. The modelling results show, for example, that, depending on the thermal model assumptions, the depth and age of the optimal mid-Late Cretaceous source-rock horizons may vary by more than 2 km and 10 Ma, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Heat Flow Measurements)
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19 pages, 17034 KiB  
Article
Towards Closing the Polar Gap: New Marine Heat Flow Observations in Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean
by Ricarda Dziadek, Mechthild Doll, Fynn Warnke and Vera Schlindwein
Geosciences 2021, 11(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11010011 - 27 Dec 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4579
Abstract
The thermal state of the lithosphere and related geothermal heat flow (GHF) is a crucial parameter to understand a variety of processes related to cryospheric, geospheric, and/or biospheric interactions. Indirect estimates of GHF in polar regions from magnetic, seismological, or petrological data often [...] Read more.
The thermal state of the lithosphere and related geothermal heat flow (GHF) is a crucial parameter to understand a variety of processes related to cryospheric, geospheric, and/or biospheric interactions. Indirect estimates of GHF in polar regions from magnetic, seismological, or petrological data often show large discrepancies when compared to thermal in situ observations. Here, the lack of in situ data represents a fundamental limitation for both investigating thermal processes of the lithosphere and validating indirect heat flow estimates. During RV Polarstern expeditions PS86 and PS118, we obtained in situ thermal measurements and present the derived GHF in key regions, such as the Antarctic Peninsula and the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic. By comparison with indirect models, our results indicate (1) elevated geothermal heat flow (75 ± 5 mW m−2 to 139 ± 26 mW m−2) to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula, which should be considered for future investigations of ice-sheet dynamics and the visco-elastic behavior of the crust. (2) The thermal signature of the Powell Basin characteristic for oceanic crust of an age between 32 and 18 Ma. Further, we propose (3) that at different heat sources at the slow-spreading Gakkel Ridge in the Aurora Vent Field region might explain the geothermal heat flow distribution. We conclude that in situ observations are urgently required to ground-truth and fine-tune existing models and that a multidisciplinary approach is of high importance for the scientific community’s understanding of this parameter. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Heat Flow Measurements)
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