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The significance of heat transport by shallow fluid flow at an active plate boundary; the Southern Alps, New Zealand

The significance of heat transport by shallow fluid flow at an active plate boundary; the Southern Alps, New Zealand
The significance of heat transport by shallow fluid flow at an active plate boundary; the Southern Alps, New Zealand
Fluid flow can influence fault behavior. Here we quantify the role of groundwater heat advection in establishing the thermal structure of the Alpine Fault, a major tectonic boundary in southern New Zealand that accommodates most of the motion between the Australian and Pacific Plates. Convergence on the Alpine Fault has rapidly uplifted the Southern Alps, resulting in high geothermal gradients and a thin seismogenic zone. A new equilibrium temperature profile from the 818 m‐deep Deep Fault Drilling Project 2B (DFDP‐2B) borehole has been interrogated using one‐dimensional analytical models of fluid and rock advection. Models indicate a total heat flux of 720 mW·m‐2 results from groundwater flow with Darcy velocities approximating to 7.8×10‐10 m·s‐1. Groundwaters advect significantly more heat than rock advection in the shallow orogen (<6 km depth) and are the major control on the subsurface temperature field.
1944-8007
Coussens, Jamie
10b295ab-dcbb-4111-baa0-d21e631d6af4
Woodman, Nicholas
9870f75a-6d12-4815-84b8-6610e657a6ad
Upton, Phaedra
45d085d3-dc9f-4233-8ef0-f8094d5a6728
Menzies, Catriona D
04bc2a62-064d-4911-9c45-17b47f3005de
Janku-Capova, Lucie
8f2daee3-da5d-445d-b08f-9bdff288b4ec
Sutherland, Rupert
e1194f14-af6c-4982-9276-599e56dd4b6b
Teagle, Damon A H
396539c5-acbe-4dfa-bb9b-94af878fe286
Coussens, Jamie
10b295ab-dcbb-4111-baa0-d21e631d6af4
Woodman, Nicholas
9870f75a-6d12-4815-84b8-6610e657a6ad
Upton, Phaedra
45d085d3-dc9f-4233-8ef0-f8094d5a6728
Menzies, Catriona D
04bc2a62-064d-4911-9c45-17b47f3005de
Janku-Capova, Lucie
8f2daee3-da5d-445d-b08f-9bdff288b4ec
Sutherland, Rupert
e1194f14-af6c-4982-9276-599e56dd4b6b
Teagle, Damon A H
396539c5-acbe-4dfa-bb9b-94af878fe286

Coussens, Jamie, Woodman, Nicholas, Upton, Phaedra, Menzies, Catriona D, Janku-Capova, Lucie, Sutherland, Rupert and Teagle, Damon A H (2018) The significance of heat transport by shallow fluid flow at an active plate boundary; the Southern Alps, New Zealand. Geophysical Research Letters. (doi:10.1029/2018GL078692).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Fluid flow can influence fault behavior. Here we quantify the role of groundwater heat advection in establishing the thermal structure of the Alpine Fault, a major tectonic boundary in southern New Zealand that accommodates most of the motion between the Australian and Pacific Plates. Convergence on the Alpine Fault has rapidly uplifted the Southern Alps, resulting in high geothermal gradients and a thin seismogenic zone. A new equilibrium temperature profile from the 818 m‐deep Deep Fault Drilling Project 2B (DFDP‐2B) borehole has been interrogated using one‐dimensional analytical models of fluid and rock advection. Models indicate a total heat flux of 720 mW·m‐2 results from groundwater flow with Darcy velocities approximating to 7.8×10‐10 m·s‐1. Groundwaters advect significantly more heat than rock advection in the shallow orogen (<6 km depth) and are the major control on the subsurface temperature field.

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Accepted/In Press date: 12 September 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 September 2018

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 423816
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/423816
ISSN: 1944-8007
PURE UUID: 9cf0e036-d8f2-4246-8626-bb4a424fa4ce
ORCID for Nicholas Woodman: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5571-0451
ORCID for Damon A H Teagle: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4416-8409

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Date deposited: 02 Oct 2018 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:07

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Contributors

Author: Jamie Coussens
Author: Phaedra Upton
Author: Catriona D Menzies
Author: Lucie Janku-Capova
Author: Rupert Sutherland

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