Global Heat Flow with Special Reference to the Region of Europe

Abstract

A global heat flow map, derived from existing observations supplemented in areas without data by an empirical predictor based on tectonic setting and age, is discussed, along with a generalized map of European heat flow derived from the global parameters. High heat flow in the southern Europe-Mediterranean and North Atlantic regions and low heat flow in the East European platform dominate the long wavelength pattern of heat flow for the European region. The observation that continental and oceanic geotherm families parametric in surface heat flow intersect the mantle solidus at a depth coincident with the top of the seismic low velocity zone, enables surface heat flow variations to be used to infer lithospheric thickness over the European region. Thick lithosphere is projected for the shields and platform of northern and eastern Europe, while thin lithosphere is projected for the North Atlantic and southern European high heat flow zones. No simple relationship appears to exist relating heat flow to crustal thickness.