Combining upper crust and lithosphere contributions to heat flow models

• Main Authors: Reading, A, Staal, T, Halpin, J, Whittaker, J
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: . 2018
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Geophysics; Geodynamics; Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://www.polar2018.org/; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/131210

Geothermal heat supplied to the base of Antarctic ice sheets, and the spatial variation of supplied heat, is animportant input model parameter in ice sheet models. Continental models of heat flow (usually referred to inthe cryosphere research community as heat flux density, abbreviated to heat flux) may be generated usingseismic wavespeed tomography maps or by inference from other geophysical observables. Upper crustalmodels, however, are generated directly from measuring the heat production of dominant or particularlyradiogenic lithologies.In this contribution, we combine upper crust and lithosphere contributions to heat flow models with a focus onEast Antarctica, including the continental interior which is covered by ice of several kilometres thickness. Wereview alternative approaches to combining low resolution information on the deeper lithosphere with broadspatial coverage, and high resolution information with very limited spatial coverage relating to the uppercrustal. Providing effective estimates of the heat supplied by the upper crust is an important research goal dueto the significance of small pockets of elevated heat flow on ice sheet models. Our model for East Antarcticarepresents a step towards future probabilistic approaches to solid Earth constraints for ice sheet models.