Terrestrial heat flow in Australia

Abstract

There is a pronounced systematic difference between heat-flow values from the Western Australian Precambrian shield and other localities in Australia. Seven shield values range from 0.9 to 1.3 μcal/cm2 sec with an average of 1.0 and eight values from off the shield range from 1.6 to 2.3 with an average of 2.0. This difference may be mostly the result of a much higher concentration of radioactive material in the crust and upper mantle in eastern Australia than in the shield area. Temperature calculations show that there is probably a temperature difference of 200°C or greater between the two regions at a depth of 37 km.