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Surface heat flux histories from geothermal data: Inferences from inversion
Author(s) -
Beltrami Hugo
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2000gl012238
Subject(s) - geothermal gradient , inversion (geology) , geology , heat flux , geophysics , geothermal heating , geothermal energy , singular value decomposition , energy balance , seismology , heat transfer , mechanics , thermodynamics , physics , tectonics , mathematics , algorithm
Past changes in the Earth's surface energy balance propagate into the subsurface and appear as perturbations of the subsurface thermal regime. A singular value decomposition inversion (SVD) scheme has been used to reconstruct surface heat flux histories (SHFH) from the heat flux anomalies detected in the subsurface. Synthetic data tests yield results in agreement with analytical expressions. Inversion of a temperature log from central Canada is used to illustrate this procedure. Results show that reconstruction of SHFH is possible with existing data. Application of this method to the existing geothermal data base should permit a quantification of the energy balance at the Earth's surface for the past few centuries.