Heat Flow Map of the Western Mediterranean Basins

Jean P. Foucher, Jean Burrus, Bruno Della Vedova

More than 400 terrestrial heat flow determinations have been carried out in the western Mediterranean basins. These include results of detailed surveys in the Ligurian Sea and in the Gulf of Lions and Tyrrhenian basins, as well as sparse measurements in the Gulf of Valencia and the Algerian basin. Most of the measurements are surficial, obtained from the temperatures sensed by outrigged thermistors mounted on weight-driven probes penetrating the sediment to 3 to 10 m. Thermal conductivity was measured either on cores or in situ.

We present a heat flow map of the western Mediterranean basins based on the available geothermal results. Mean regional heat flow values range from 55 to 105 mW m^-2 in the Lugiran and Gulf of Lions basin and from 50 to 200 m mW m^-2 in the Tyrrhenian Sea. In the latter basin, high heat flow characterizes areas of recent intensive thinning of the continental crust and associated incipient oceanic crust formation. In the former basins, heat flow tends to increase from the Provencal coast of France to the Corsican and Sardinian margins, which may reflect an increasing heat contribution from the mantle.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91032©1988 Mediterranean Basins Conference and Exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 September 1988.