GLACIAL EFFECT AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CONTINENTAL TERRESTRIAL HEAT FLOW MEASUREMENTS

There is evidence that the observed equality of oceanic and continental mean heat flow may be more apparent than real. The effect of the increase in land surface temperature at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation, in theory should be observable in borehole temperature measurements as a decrease in heat flow towards the surface. This trend is shown in the Appalachian region heat flow values tabulated by Lee and Uyeda in 1965. In this region heat flow correlates positively with the depth of the borehole, having a linear correlation coefficient of 0.678. Adjustment of continental heat flow observations for this effect would increase the continental average above the oceanic average. In this way the large deep seated lateral variations in temperature required to explain the present apparent equality are unnecessary. Similarly regional variations in mean heat flow may be in part due to different average borehole depth in the regions. © 1968.