Planetary heat flow measurements

The year 2005 marks the 35th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission, probably the most successful failure in the history of manned spaceflight. Naturally, Apollo 13's scientific payload is far less known than the spectacular accident and subsequent rescue of its crew. Among other instruments, it carried the first instrument designed to measure the flux of heat on a planetary body other than Earth. The year 2005 also should have marked the launch of the Japanese LUNAR-A mission, and ESA's Rosetta mission is slowly approaching comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Both missions carry penetrators to study the heat flow from their target bodies. What is so interesting about planetary heat flow? What can we learn from it and how do we measure it? Not only the Sun, but all planets in the Solar System are essentially heat engines. Various heat sources or heat reservoirs drive intrinsic and surface processes, causing ‘dead balls of rock, ice or gas’ to evolve dynamically over time, driving convection that powers tectonic processes and spawns magnetic fields. The heat flow constrains models of the thermal evolution of a planet and also its composition because it provides an upper limit for the bulk abundance of radioactive elements. On Earth, the global variation of heat flow also reflects the tectonic activity: heat flow increases towards the young ocean ridges, whereas it is rather low on the old continental shields. It is not surprising that surface heat flow measurements, or even estimates, where performed, contributed greatly to our understanding of what happens inside the planets. In this article, I will review the results and the methods used in past heat flow measurements and speculate on the targets and design of future experiments.

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Modeling of Tectonic-Thermal Evolution of Cretaceous Qingshankou Shale in the Changling Sag, Southern Songliao Basin, NE China

Frontiers in Earth Science ◽

10.3389/feart.2021.694906 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Yuchen Liu ◽

Bo Liu ◽

LiJuan Cheng ◽

Jilin Xing ◽

Shansi Tian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heat Flow ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Thermal History ◽

Thermal Evolution ◽

Songliao Basin ◽

Tectonic Activity ◽

Hydrocarbon Generation ◽

Shale Oil ◽

Oil Exploration ◽

History Of

A series of significant shale oil discoveries have been made recently in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation in the Songliao Basin, providing a new resource target for shale oil exploration in Northeast China. In this context, an understanding of the tectonic-thermal evolution and maturation history of the Qingshankou Formation is of great significance for shale oil exploration and evaluation. In this study, the thermal history of the Qingshankou Formation since the Late Cretaceous was reconstructed using the paleothermal indicator method. The results indicate that two stages of thermal evolution exist in the southern part of the Songliao Basin: 1) the gradual heating stage during the Late Cretaceous; the heat flow gradually increases during this period and reaches a maximum heat flow value at the end of the Cretaceous. 2) The decline stage since the Neogene; the tectonic activity is relatively stable and the geothermal heat flow is gradually reduced, and the present-day heat flow ranges from 60.1 to 100.7 mW/m2, with an average of 78.2 mW/m2. In addition, the maturity history of the organic-rich shale was reconstructed based on the new thermal history. The Cretaceous Qingshankou shales underwent deep burial thermal metamorphism at the end of the Cretaceous, whereas thermal has faded since the Neogene. The hydrocarbon generation and migration since the Late Cretaceous period of K2qn1 were modeled based on the maturity model. Two main cooling events took place in the late Nenjiang period and the late Mingshui period in the Changling sag. These two tectonic events controlled the structural style and the formation of shale oil reservoirs in the southern Songliao Basin.

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In situ determination of heat flow in unconsolidated sediments

Geophysics ◽

10.1190/1.1441142 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 76-83 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

J. H. Sass ◽

J. P. Kennelly ◽

W. E. Wendt ◽

T. H. Moses ◽

J. P. Ziagos

Keyword(s):

Heat Flow ◽

Thermal Gradient ◽

Equilibrium Temperature ◽

Unconsolidated Sediments ◽

Heat Sources ◽

Geothermal Resources ◽

Flow Measurements ◽

Thermal Measurements

Subsurface thermal measurements are the most effective, least ambiguous tools for locating geothermal resources. Measurements of thermal gradient in the upper few tens of meters can delineate the major anomalies, but it is also desirable to combine these gradients with reliable estimates of thermal conductivity, to provide data on the energy flux and to constrain models of the heat sources responsible for the anomalies. Problems associated with such heat flow measurements include the economics of casing or grouting holes, the long waits and repeated visits necessary to obtain equilibrium temperature values, the possible legal liability arising from disturbance of aquifers, the hazards presented by pipes protruding from the ground, and the security problems associated with leaving cased holes open for periods of weeks to months.

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Age, thermal evolution and history of the Black Sea Basin based on heat flow and multichannel reflection data

Tectonophysics ◽

10.1016/0040-1951(92)90326-2 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 210 (3-4) ◽

pp. 273-293 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

A.Ya Golmshtok ◽

L.P Zonenshain ◽

A.A Terekhov ◽

R.V Shainurov

Keyword(s):

Heat Flow ◽

Black Sea ◽

Thermal Evolution ◽

The Black Sea ◽

Reflection Data ◽

History Of

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Geothermal energy of reservoirs and heat sources in Japan estimated from heat flow measurements and others

Geothermics ◽

10.1016/0375-6505(70)90044-1 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 459-465 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. Hayakawa

Keyword(s):

Heat Flow ◽

Geothermal Energy ◽

Heat Sources ◽

Flow Measurements

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Possible Thermal History of the Moon

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900097680 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 384-391 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Peter E. Fricker ◽

Ray T. Reynolds ◽

Audrey L. Summers

Keyword(s):

Thermal History ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

Time Dependent ◽

Heat Sources ◽

The Moon ◽

Melting Range ◽

Cooling Process ◽

Flow Measurements ◽

History Of ◽

Process Heat

The possible thermal history of the Moon is investigated by means of theoretical models. The calculations include the effects of melting and time-dependent redistribution of radioactive heat sources. The known constraints can best be satisfied by a model which is characterized by relatively high initial temperatures close to the melting range; melting and, consequently, fractionation and redistribution of radionuclides would occur during the first 1.5 × 109 yr and would then be followed by an effective cooling process. Heat flow measurements on the lunar surface should permit a distinction between such a completely fractionated model and a non-fractionated model or a model with restricted fractionation in the outer few hundred kilometers.

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Thermal studies in a geothermal area: Report I. Thermal studies at Roosevelt Hot Springs, Utah; Report II. Heat flow above an arbitrarily dipping plane of heat sources; and Report III. A datum correction for heat flow measurements made on an arbitrary surface

10.2172/7015581 ◽

1980 ◽

Author(s):

W.R. Wilson ◽

D.S. Chapman

Keyword(s):

Heat Flow ◽

Hot Springs ◽

Thermal Studies ◽

Heat Sources ◽

Geothermal Area ◽

Flow Measurements

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Thermal evolution and slip history of the Renbu Zedong Thrust, southeastern Tibet

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres ◽

10.1029/96jd02483 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 102 (B2) ◽

pp. 2659-2680 ◽

Cited By ~ 66

Author(s):

Xavier Quidelleur

Keyword(s):

Thermal Evolution ◽

Slip History ◽

History Of ◽

Southeastern Tibet

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Numerical analysis of heat flow in oxy-ethylene flame cutting of steel plate

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part B Journal of Engineering Manufacture ◽

10.1177/0954405416654183 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 232 (4) ◽

pp. 742-751 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kang-Yul Bae ◽

Young-Soo Yang ◽

Myung-Su Yi ◽

Chang-Woo Park

Keyword(s):

Numerical Simulation ◽

Heat Flow ◽

Heat Affected Zone ◽

Steel Plate ◽

Cutting Parameters ◽

Cutting Process ◽

Heat Sources ◽

Power Functions ◽

Severe Problem ◽

Ethylene Flame

To manufacture a steel structure, in the first step, raw steel plate needs to be cut into proper sizes. Oxy-fuel flame is widely used in the cutting process due to its flexibility with respect to accessibility, plate thickness, cost, and material handling. However, the deformation caused by the cutting process frequently becomes a severe problem for the next process in the production of steel product. To decrease the deformation, the thermo-elasto-plastic behavior of the steel plate in the cutting process should be analyzed in advance. In this study, heat sources in oxy-ethylene flame cutting of steel plate were modeled first, and the heat flow in the steel plate was then analyzed by the models of the heat sources using a numerical simulation based on the finite element method. To verify the analysis by the numerical simulation including the models, a series of experiments were performed, and the temperature histories at several points on the steel plate during the cutting process were measured. Moreover, the predicted sizes of the heat-affected zone by the numerical simulations according to the variation in the cutting parameters were compared to the experimental results. The power functions of the relationship between the sizes of the heat-affected zone and cutting parameters were obtained by the recursion analysis using the correlation between the results and parameters. The results of the numerical simulation showed good agreement with those of the experiments, indicating that the proposed models of the heat sources and thermal analysis were feasible to analyze the heat flow in the steel plate during the cutting process.

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Tectonic Evolution of the SE West Siberian Basin (Russia): Evidence from Apatite Fission Track Thermochronology of Its Exposed Crystalline Basement

Minerals ◽

10.3390/min11060604 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 604

Author(s):

Evgeny V. Vetrov ◽

Johan De Grave ◽

Natalia I. Vetrova ◽

Fedor I. Zhimulev ◽

Simon Nachtergaele ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tectonic Evolution ◽

Fission Track ◽

Analytical Data ◽

Tectonic Activity ◽

Apatite Fission Track ◽

Tectonic Processes ◽

Basement Rocks ◽

Fission Track Thermochronology ◽

History Of ◽

West Siberian Basin

The West Siberian Basin (WSB) is one of the largest intracratonic Meso-Cenozoic basins in the world. Its evolution has been studied over the recent decades; however, some fundamental questions regarding the tectonic evolution of the WSB remain unresolved or unconfirmed by analytical data. A complete understanding of the evolution of the WSB during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras requires insights into the cooling history of the basement rocks as determined by low-temperature thermochronometry. We presented an apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology study on the exposed parts of the WSB basement in order to distinguish tectonic activation episodes in an absolute timeframe. AFT dating of thirteen basement samples mainly yielded Cretaceous cooling ages and mean track lengths varied between 12.8 and 14.5 μm. Thermal history modeling based on the AFT data demonstrates several Mesozoic and Cenozoic intracontinental tectonic reactivation episodes affected the WSB basement. We interpreted the episodes of tectonic activity accompanied by the WSB basement exhumation as a far-field effect from tectonic processes acting on the southern and eastern boundaries of Eurasia during the Mesozoic–Cenozoic eras.

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