Australian Heat Flow Measurements with Regional Contour Maps

Twenty new heat-flow values from sites across Australia are combined with published land and marine data to produce contour maps of heat flux for the region 90-170°E, 0-45°S. The data, presented by the Australian Ocean Data Network, shows a pattern of low heat flow (30-60 mW m^-2) in most areas and higher values (70-100 mW m^-2) in eastern Australia. The dataset was last updated on 2026-04-10.

Use Cases

• Modeling regional geothermal gradients based on the reported heat flux values.
• Correlating heat flow with seismic data based on the described relationship with P-wave travel-time residuals.
• Investigating crustal age and structure based on the observed correlation between low heat flow and old oceanic/continental crust.
• Delineating boundaries of geological provinces like Precambrian cratons based on heat-flow regime patterns.

Strengths

• Includes 20 new heat-flow measurements combined with published data.
• Provides specific heat flux ranges for distinct regions (e.g., 40-50 mW m^-2 in Canning Basin, 70-100 mW m^-2 in Queensland).
• Covers a defined geographical area (90-170°E, 0-45°S).

Limitations

• Data distribution is described as insufficient to accurately delineate boundaries of heat-flow regimes.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Combination of twenty new measurements with published land and marine data.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 17:11:35.755870; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian continent and surrounding marine area (90-170°E, 0-45°S).