Heat‐flow determination in three DSDP boreholes near the Japan Trench

Abstract

The first deep borehole determinations of temperature gradients and heat flow on the landward wall of the Japan Trench and forearc were made on IPOD DSDP leg 57. These heat flow values are based on temperature logs corrected to equilibrium, using a detailed model of the drilling disturbance. Heat flow values on a deeply submerged marine terrace, landward of the trench slope break are 28 and 32 mW m−2. A measurement in the midslope terrace basin on the landward wall of the trench yielded a value of 22 mW m−2. The results are in good agreement with earlier seafloor measurements and indicate that most of the forearc area is characterized by heat flow about one half of that over oceanic lithosphere seaward of the trench. Our observations indicate only a small increase of heat flow from the trench to the volcanic arc, in agreement with thermal models, which suggests that the subduction of the relatively cold oceanic plate continues to dominate the temperature structure for distances of up to 250 km landward of the trench. The temperature profile in the borehole on the midslope terrace indicates possible vertical flow of pore waters. Hundreds of conductivity determinations were made using a new technique.