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Geothermal Heating in the Panama Basin: 1. Hydrography of the Basin
Author(s) -
Banyte D.,
Morales Maqueda M.,
Hobbs R.,
Smeed D. A.,
Megann A.,
Recalde S.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1029/2018jc013868
Subject(s) - geology , abyssal zone , structural basin , trench , hydrography , inflow , upwelling , abyssal plain , geothermal heating , bottom water , ridge , geothermal gradient , geomorphology , oceanography , hydrology (agriculture) , geothermal energy , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , layer (electronics)
The Panama Basin serves as a laboratory to investigate abyssal water upwelling. The basin has only a single abyssal water inflow pathway through the narrow Ecuador Trench. The estimated critical inflow through the Trench reaches 0.34 ± 0.07 m/s, resulting in an abyssal water volume inflow of 0.29 ± 0.07 Sv. The same trench carries the return flow of basin waters that starts just 200 m above the bottom and is approximately 400‐m deeper than the depth of the next possible deep water exchange pathway at the Carnegie Ridge Saddle. The curvature of temperature‐salinity diagrams is used to differentiate the effect of geothermal heating on the deep Panama Basin waters that was found to reach as high as 2,200‐m depth, which is about 500 m above the upper boundary of the abyssal water layer.