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Heat flow at the proposed Appalachian Ultradeep Core Hole (ADCOH) Site: Tectonic implications
Author(s) -
Costain John K.,
Decker Edward R.
Publication year - 1987
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/gl014i003p00252
Subject(s) - allochthon , geology , crust , tectonics , ridge , décollement , heat flow , petrology , seismology , geomorphology , geophysics , paleontology , thermal , meteorology , nappe , physics
The heat flow in northwestern South Carolina at the Appalachian Ultradeep Core Hole (ADCOH) site area is approximately 55 mW/m². This data supplements other data to the east in the Piedmont and Atlantic Coastal Plain provinces where heat flows > 55 mW/m² are characteristic of post‐ and late‐synmetamorphic granitoids. Piedmont heat flow and heat generation data for granites, metagranites, and one Slate Belt site, in a zone approximately parallel to major structural Appalachian trends, define a linear relation. Tectonic truncation of heat‐producing crust at a depth of about 8 km (a depth equal to the slope of the heat flow‐heat production line) is proposed to explain the linear relation. Using the value of reduced heat flow estimated from this empirical relation, and assuming thicknesses of heat‐producing crust defined by new ADCOH seismic data, the heat flow and heat production at the ADCOH site are consistent with a depth to the base of the Inner Piedmont crystalline allochthon of about 5.5 km. Seismic data at the ADCOH site confirm that the Inner Piedmont is tectonically truncated at about 5.5 km by the Blue Ridge master decollement. Temperatures at 10 km at the ADCOH site are predicted to be less than 200 °C.