Regional variations in Australian heat flow

Twenty new heat-flow values from widely separated sites on the Australian continent are presented. These are combined with published land and marine data in the area 90-170°E, 0.45°S to produce contour maps of heat flux in the region. For most of the area the heat flux is uniform, and low (30-60 mW m^-2), presumably because both the oceanic and continental crusts are comparatively old. However, in eastern Australia the heat flow is significantly higher (~ 70-100 mW m^-2). The new data reinforce this pattern with values from the Canning Basin and Pilbara Block falling in the range 40-50 mW m^-2, and those in Queensland and New South Wales in the range 70-100 mW m^-2. The data distribution is still not good enough to delineate accurately the boundaries of the high and low heat-flow regimes, and hence define the boundary of possible Precambrian craton(s) where no outcrop is present. There is a strong positive correlation between heat flow and P-wave travel-time residuals, and a negative correlation between heat flow and upper-mantle velocity. There is no obvious relationship between heat flow and crustal thickness.

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Published (Metadata Record) 03/03/2026
Last updated 04/03/2026
Organisation Australian Federal Government
License License Not Specified
Update Frequency Unknown