Subsurface temperatures and surface heat flow in the Michigan Basin and their relationships to regional subsurface fluid movement

Abstract

Linear regression of 405 bottomhole temperature (BHT) measurements vs. associated depths from Michigan's Lower Peninsula results in the following equation relating BHT and depth: BHT(°C) = 14.5 + 0.0192 × depth(m) Temperature residuals, defined as (BHT measured)—(BHT calculated), were determined for each of the 405 BHT's. Areas of positive temperature residuals correspond to areas of regional groundwater discharge (determined from maps of equipotential surface) while areas of negative temperature residuals correspond to areas of regional groundwater recharge. These relationships are observed in the principal aquifers in rocks of Devonian and Ordovician age and in a portion of the principal aquifer in rocks of Silurian age. There is a similar correspondence between high surface heat flow (determined using the silica geothermometer) and regional groundwater discharge areas and low surface heat flow and regional groundwater recharge areas. Post-Jurassic depositional and tectonic histories suggest that the observed coupling of subsurface temperature and groundwater flow systems may have persisted since Jurassic time. Thus the higher subsurface palaeotemperatures (and palaeogeothermal gradients) indicated by recent studies most likely pre-date the Jurassic.