Open AccessAnalysis of Scatter in the Oceanic Heat Flow Data
Author(s) -
Naidu Prabhakar S.
Publication year - 1969
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.1969.tb00245.x
Subject(s) - geology , ridge , crest , mid ocean ridge , oceanic crust , oceanic basin , seismology , geophysics , geodesy , tectonics , paleontology , optics , physics , subduction
Summary Statistical analysis of the scatter (noise) in the oceanic heat flow data (about 800 measurements) has revealed the following statistical structure: the scatter in the ridge data is proportional to the background signal. Reduced scatter, that is, actual scatter divided by the mean is homogeneous. The probability density function of the reduced scatter is asymmetric with a peak on the negative side. Variance of the basin data depends upon the thickness of the sediment. The thermal field when continued downwards to the bottom of the sediment has a variance approximately equal to that of the ridge data. From this it is suggested that the ocean bottom underneath the sediments is as rough as in the ridge region. The entire ocean bottom must have been formed by the same process, for example, by a mechanism of dyke intrusion along the crest and lateral movement of the oceanic crust.