Crustal temperatures near the Lithoprobe Southern Canadian Cordillera Transect

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1197-1214 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Lewis ◽  
W. H. Bentkowski ◽  
R. D. Hyndman
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Heat Flow ◽  
Heat Generation ◽  
Lower Crust ◽  
Volcanic Belt ◽  
The United States ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Upper Crust ◽  
Thermal Data ◽  
Seismic Reflectors

Heat flow and radioactive heat generation have been measured and the data compiled across southern British Columbia in the region of the Lithoprobe Southern Canadian Cordillera Transect. Heat flow in the trench-arc zone between the continental margin and the Garibaldi volcanic belt is very low, but in the volcanic belt it is high and very irregular. Farther inland, to the east, the heat flow is moderately high, with the highest values in southeastern British Columbia, associated with high surface radioactive heat production. The thermal data from the central and eastern interior of southern British Columbia define a single heat-flow province with a reduced heat flow of 63 mW/m2 flowing into the upper crust. This indicates a warm, thin lithosphere similar to that of the Basin and Range of the United States to the south. Occurrences of seismic reflective bands in the lower crust of the Cordillera were compared with temperatures calculated from surface heat flow and heat generation using a simple one-dimensional conductive model. The 450 °C isotherm corresponds approximately to the brittle– ductile transition, and deeper crust may be rheologically detached from the upper crust. Where the thermal data approximately coincide with the transect seismic reflection lines, the 450 °C isotherm often corresponds to the top of characteristic sub-horizontal reflector bands, as found in Phanerozoic areas elsewhere around the world. The lower limit of the reflective band in a number of Cordilleran reflection sections is near the 730 °C isotherm, which corresponds to the transition from present "wet" amphibolite- to "dry" granulite-facies conditions. This control of the depth to the deep crustal reflective bands by present temperature provides support for the model of the reflectors being produced by fluids trapped at lithostatic pressure (layered porosity), a model that can also explain the high electrical conductivity in the deep crust of the area. The probable rheological detachment of the lower crust and a possible nonstructural origin of the deep reflectors require that interpreted lower crustal structural boundaries such as the top of the basement of the North American craton under the Lithoprobe Southern Canadian Cordillera Transect be treated with caution. However, there is no doubt that many seismic reflectors are related to crustal structures, and the model is presented as an explanation for bands of seismic reflectors in the lower Phanerozoic crust, not as a model for all seismic reflectors.

A Review of Geophysical Studies in the Canadian Cordillera

1971 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 788-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Berry ◽  
W. R. Jacoby ◽  
E. R. Niblett ◽  
R. A. Stacey
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Heat Flow ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Geophysical Data ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Crust And Upper Mantle ◽  
Juan De Fuca

Geophysical studies of the crust and upper mantle have been conducted in the Canadian Cordillera for over two decades, but only recently have sufficient data been collected to permit a synthesis and a correlation with the major geological units. The studies have included gravity, heat flow, and magnetotelluric observations, geomagnetic depth sounding, and high level aeromagnetics as well as both small and large scale refraction and reflection seismic surveys.It now appears that major crustal units may be recognized geophysically:(i) Seismic and gravity data suggest that the Plains and Rocky Mountains are underlain by two units of the North American craton with a crustal section 45–50 km thick. The northern unit appears to terminate at the Rocky Mountain Trench while the southern unit may extend to the Omineca Geanticline.(ii) The combined geological and geophysical data suggest that the Rocky Mountain Trench and possibly the Kootenay Arc near the 49th parallel mark the edge of the Precambrian continental margin and that the western Cordillera was formed by a complex succession of plate interactions with repeated reactivation of block boundaries.(iii) A combination of magnetic and heat flow data suggest that the region between the Rocky Mountain Trench and the Fraser Lineament is part of the Cordilleran Thermal Anomaly Zone recognized by Blackwell in the United States.(iv) Seismic data in Central British Columbia suggest that the Pinchi Fault system is a boundary between two crustal blocks.(v) The crustal thickness of the Coast Geanticline appears to increase gradually to the west to approximately 40 km and, at least in southern British Columbia, does not have a root zone below the mountains.(vi) The crustal section beneath Vancouver Island is abnormally thick and there is some paleomagnetic data which suggest that the Island may not have been formed in its present position, contiguous to the Cordillera. The crustal section for the northern part of the Insular Trough is significantly thinner.(vii) The active spreading of the Juan de Fuca Rise – Explorer Trench is now well documented. The geophysical data suggest active subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath Oregon, Washing-ton, and southern Vancouver Island. However, further north there is no evidence for subduction.

Geothermal measurements in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon Territory

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 599-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan M. Jessop ◽  
J. G. Souther ◽  
Trevor J. Lewis ◽  
A. S. Judge
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Heat Flow ◽  
Heat Generation ◽  
Water Movement ◽  
Volcanic Belt ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Basin And Range Province ◽  
Probable Effect ◽  
Few Data

Measurements at seven sites in the Intermontane region of northern British Columbia and southern Yukon show heat flow of 63–100 mW/m2 and heat generation, obtained from intrusive rocks at three of these sites, of 1.8–6.5 μW/m1. These few data cannot define a linear relation between heat flow and heat generation for this region, but the plotted points lie between the lines of the stable crust of the eastern United States and of the Basin and Range Province. Conductive thermal models of the crust, assuming a basalt composition for the lower crust, predict at 35 km depth a heat flow of 30 mW/m2 and temperatures between 645 and 775 °C at most sites.At two sites conductive models based on reasonable properties do not yield reasonable temperatures. The site on the axis of the Stikine Volcanic Belt shows a probable component of convectively enhanced heat flow or the presence of a young intrusion at depth. The site in the Bowser Basin shows the probable effect of water movement in the sediments.

Review: The thermal regime along the southern Canadian Cordillera Lithoprobe corridor

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 1611-1617 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Hyndman ◽  
T. J. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flow ◽  
Heat Generation ◽  
Thermal Regime ◽  
Volcanic Belt ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
High Heat ◽  
General Level ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Seismic Structure ◽  
Brittle Ductile Transition

This summary article describes the surface heat flow and heat generation data available for the Southern Canadian Cordillera Lithoprobe Transect, and the inferred crustal temperatures. At the western end of the transect, the continental margin has the characteristic heat flow pattern of a subduction zone; there are high heat flows over the young oceanic crust of the deep-sea Cascadia Basin (~120 mW·m−2), decreasing values landward on the continental slope and shelf (90–50 mW·m−2), and very low heat flow and low crustal temperatures in the forearc region of Vancouver Island and the adjacent mainland (30–40 mW·m−2). Very high and irregular heat flow occurs in the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt at the northern end of the Cascade volcanic arc. To the east, across the Intermontane and Omineca belts to the Rocky Mountain Trench, the heat flow and inferred crustal temperatures are high. The highest values are in the east in the Omineca Belt, where the radioactive heat generation is especially great. The crustal thermal regime has important implications for the interpretation of the deep seismic structure: (1) The brittle–ductile transition (~450 °C), which occurs in the mid-crust for most of the transect, is expected to represent a general level of thrust and normal fault detachment. The deeper crust may be mechanically decoupled from that above. (2) Crustal thickness may be related to temperature. If the lithosphere temperature is high and its density decreased by thermal expansion, there can be isostatic equilibrium with a thin crust and high topography. (3) The thermal regime appears to control the depth to the widespread crustal reflectivity and high electrical conductivity in the deep crust.

Eocene Challis-Kamloops volcanism in central British Columbia: an example from the Buck Creek basin

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 951-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Dostal ◽  
D A Robichaud ◽  
B N Church ◽  
P H Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Rare Earth ◽  
Rare Earth Element ◽  
Fractional Crystallization ◽  
Earth Element ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Volcanic Belt ◽  
The United States ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
Heavy Rare Earth Element

Eocene volcanic rocks of the Buck Creek basin in central British Columbia are part of the Challis-Kamloops volcanic belt extending from the United States across British Columbia to central Yukon. The volcanic rocks include two units, the Buck Creek Formation, composed of high-K calc-alkaline rocks with predominant andesitic composition, and the overlying Swans Lake unit made up of intraplate tholeiitic basalts. Whole rock 40Ar/39Ar data for both units show that they were emplaced at 50 Ma. They have similar mantle-normalized trace element patterns characterized by a large-ion lithophile element enrichment and Nb-Ta depletion, similar chondrite-normalized rare earth element patterns with (La/Yb)n ~4-14 and heavy rare earth element fractionation, and overlapping epsilonNd values (2.4-3.1) and initial Sr-isotope ratios ( ~ 0.704). These features suggest derivation of these two units from a similar mantle source, probably garnet-bearing subcontinental lithosphere. The differences between tholeiitic and calc-alkaline suites can be due, in part, to differences in the depth of fractional crystallization and the crystallizing mineral assemblage. Fractional crystallization of the calc-alkaline magmas began at a greater (mid-crustal) depth and included fractionation of Fe-Ti oxides. The volcanic rocks are probably related to subduction of the Farallon plate under the North American continent in a regime characterized by transcurrent movements and strike-slip faulting.

Heat flux measurements in southwestern British Columbia: the thermal consequences of plate tectonics

1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1262-1273 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Lewis ◽  
A. M. Jessop ◽  
A. S. Judge
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Heat Flow ◽  
Heat Generation ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Plutonic Complex ◽  
Coast Plutonic Complex ◽  
Reduced Heat Flow

Measured heat fluxes from previously published data and 34 additional boreholes outline the terrestrial heat flow field in southern British Columbia. Combined with heat generation representative of the crust at 10 sites in the Intermontane and Omineca belts, the data define a heat flow province with a reduced heat flow of 63 mW m−2 and a depth scale of 10 km. Such a linear relationship is not found or expected in the Insular Belt and the western half of the Coast Plutonic Complex where low heat fluxes are interpreted to be the result of recent subduction. The apparent boundary between low and high heat flux is a transition over a distance of 20 km, located in Jervis Inlet 20–40 km seaward of the Pleistocene Garibaldi Volcanic Belt.The warm, thin crust of the Intermontane and Omenica Crystalline belts is similar to that of areas of the Basin and Range Province where the youngest volcanics are more than 17 Ma in age. Processes 50 Ma ago that completely heated the crust and upper mantle could theoretically produce such high heat fluxes by conductive cooling of the lithosphere. But it is more likely that the asthenosphere flows towards the subduction zone, bringing heat to the base of the lithosphere. Since the reduced heat flow is high but constant, large differences in upper crustal temperatures within this heat flow province at present are caused by large variations in both crustal heat generation and near-surface thermal conductivity. The sharp transition in heat flux near the coast is the result of the combined effects of convective heating of the eastern Coast Plutonic Complex, pronounced differential uplift and erosion across a boundary within the Coast Plutonic Complex, and the subducting oceanic plate.

Geothermal energy from Penticton Tertiary outlier, British Columbia: an initial assessment

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Lewis
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Heat Flow ◽  
Geothermal Energy ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Initial Assessment ◽  
Upper Crust ◽  
Apparent Permeability ◽  
South Central

Tertiary basins in south-central British Columbia may be economic sources of hot water for space heating. The heat flow, 72 mW m−2 for the Penticton Tertiary outlier, and the insulating layers of volcanic sediments produce particularly high temperatures within this basin. Underneath White Lake, the temperature at the bottom of a spectacular thickness of sediments may be 90 °C. The measured porosity, approximately 5%, and the water flows observed in boreholes indicate ample fluid and apparent permeability to extract significant heat from the rocks. However, a more qualitative assessment of these parameters can only come from a thorough hydrogeologic study involving several test wells.The regional heat flow indicates that Coryell-type intrusions having a high radioactive heat generation do not form a significant proportion of the upper crust.

scholarly journals Postcollisional evolution features of the intracontinental structures formed by overthrusting

Georesursy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-385
Author(s):  
O. Parphenuk
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flow ◽  
Heat Generation ◽  
Thermal Evolution ◽  
Complex Model ◽  
Upper Crust ◽  
Initial Temperature Distribution ◽  
Maximum Heat ◽  
Radiogenic Heat ◽  
Surface Uplift ◽  
Mechanical Evolution

The investigation of intracontinental collision structures is conducted based on the complex model of the thermal and mechanical evolution of overthrusting process for the rheologically layered lithosphere, which includes brittle upper crust, the lower crust and lithospheric upper mantle with different effective viscosity values. Finite element models with Lagrangian approach were used for the problem simulation. It was shown that thermal evolution of continental orogens essentially results from the geometry and topography due to thrusting and postcollision stage. This work concentrates on the thermal parameters influence on the evolution of collision zones aimed to the study of possibility of granite melt formation. Calculations for mean continental initial temperature distribution lead to the conclusion of possibility of granite melt formation for the case of “wet” granite solidus. The horizon of temperatures higher than “wet” granite solidus appears at the level of 30-40 km, moving upward to the depth 15-20 km at postcollision stage. The early postcollision evolution shows some heat flow increase due to the thickening of the upper crust with maximum heat generation rate. Further history leads to the stable heat flow values because additional loading redistribution resulting from the denudation of surface uplift and corresponding sedimentation is small due to the local erosion in our model. It was shown that surface heat losses after the termination of horizontal shortening depend to a greater extent on radiogenic heat generation rather than thermal conductivity value in the upper crust.

McNaughton Lake seismicity—more evidence for an Anahim hotspot?

1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 826-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garry C. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
North America ◽  
Coastal Zone ◽  
Volcanic Belt ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Lake Region

The only notable concentration of earthquakes in the Canadian Cordillera away from the coastal zone occurs in the McNaughton Lake region of British Columbia, off the eastern end of the Anahim volcanic belt. The association of these two phenomena strengthens the hypothesis that the origin of the Anahim belt is due to North America overriding a mantle hotspot and provides a possible explanation for the concentration and character of the seismicity.

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