Open AccessHeat Flow in the Austrian Alps
Author(s) -
Clark Sydney P.
Publication year - 1961
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1961.tb02961.x
Subject(s) - heat flow , geothermal gradient , geology , crust , heat flux , thermal conductivity , high heat , geothermal energy , flux (metallurgy) , thermal , mineralogy , geophysics , heat transfer , meteorology , thermodynamics , materials science , geography , physics , metallurgy , composite material
Summary Data on underground temperature obtained during the construction of the Arlberg and Tauern tunnels in Austria have been combined with measurements of the thermal conductivity of 42 samples of rock from near the tunnels to calculate the terrestrial heat flow. The value in the Arlberg is found to be (1.9 ± 0.2) × 10 −6 cal/cm 2 s, and in the Tauern, (1.8 ± 0.2) × 10 −6 cal/cm 2 s. The new results are in good agreement with the value 1.9 × 10 −6 cal/cm 2 s found earlier in the Loetschberg tunnel in Switzerland, and indicate that relatively high geothermal fluxes extend into the eastern Alps. The high flux can be attributed to radioactive heat generation in a thickened crust.