Abstract
The trends of heat flow density in West Africa are discussed in relation to the large-scale structural framework. The heat flow density is low in the stable Archean nuclei (30–40 mW m−2) and increases to 50–60 mW m−2 in the surrounding mobile belts affected by the Pan-African orogeny (600 Ma). In the northern part of West Africa, the high heat flow density (70–100mW m−2) is interpreted as resulting from a rejuvenation of the lithosphere during Mesozoic and Cenozoic in connection with several tectonic processes (Hercynian orogeny, Cretaceous rifting, Cenozoic volcanism and Alpine orogeny).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ballard S, Pollack HN, Skinner NJ (1987) Terrestrial heat flow in Botswana and Namibia. J Geophys Res 92:6291–6300.
Beck AE, Mustonen (1972) Preliminary heat flow data from Ghana. Nature 235:172–174.
Bessoles B (1977) Géologie de l’Afrique. Le craton ouest africain. Mém BRGM 88:402.
Black R, Caby R, Moussine Pouchkine A (1979) Evidence for Late Precambrian plate tectonics in West Africa. Nature 278:223–227.
Brigaud F, Lucazeau F, Ly S, Sauvage JF (1985) Heat flow from the West African Shield. Geophys Res Lett 12:549–552.
Brigaud F, Chapman DS, Le Douaran S (1990) Thermal conductivity in sedimentary basins predicted from lithologic data and geophysical well logs. (AAPG Bull). 74:1459–1477.
Brigaud F, Vasseur G (1989) Mineralogy, porosity and fluid control on thermal conductivity of sedimentory rocks. Geophys J 98, 3:525–542.
Chapman DS, Pollack HN (1974) ‘Cold spot’ in West Africa anchoring the African plate. Nature 250:477–478.
Chapman DS, Keho TH, Bauer MS, Picard MD (1984) Heat flow in the Uinta basin determined from bottom hole temperature (BHT) data. Geophysics 49:453–466.
Dautria JM, Girod M (1987) African-Arabian plate Cenozoic volcanism associated with swells and rifts. In: Nixon PH (ed) Mantle xenoliths. Wiley, New York, pp 195–214.
Dautria JM, Lesquer A (1989) The recent geodynamics of the Hoggar swell and its nearby regions (central Sahara, southern Algeria and eastern Niger). Tectonophysics 163:45–62.
Dowdle WL, Cobb WM (1975) Static formation temperature from well logs — an empirical method. J Petrol Tech 27:1326–1330.
Herman BM, Langseth MG, Hobart MA (1977) Heat flow in the oceanic crust bounding western Africa. Tectonophysics 41:61–77.
Latil Brun MV (1987) Subsidence et évolution thermique du bassin du Sénégal. Comparaison avec la marge divergente homologue Est Américaine et les marges transformantes de Côte d’Ivoire et des Guyanes. University Thesis, Marseille, France, 200 pp.
Lesquer A, Beltrao JF, Abreu De FAM (1984) Proterozoic links between northern Brazil and West Africa: a plate tectonic model based on gravity data. Tectonophysics 110:9–26.
Lesquer A, Bourmatte A, Dautria JM (1988) Deep structure of the Hoggar domal uplift (central Sahara, South Algeria) from gravity, thermal and petrological data. Tectonophysics 152:71–88.
Lesquer A, Bourmatte M, Ly S, Dautria JM (1989) First heat flow determinations from the central Sahara. Relationships with the Pan African belt and Hoggar domal uplift. J Afr Earth Sci 9:41–48.
Lucazeau F, Ben Dhia H (1989) Preliminary heat flow density data from Tunisia and the Pelagian Sea. Can J Earth Sci 26:993–1000.
Rimi A, Lucazeau F (1987) Heat flow density measurements in northern Morocco. J Afr Earth Sci 6:835–843.
Sass JG, Behrendt JC (1980) Heat flow from the Liberian Precambrian shield. J Geophys Res 85:3159–3162.
Sclater JG, Parsons B, Jaupart C (1981) Ocean and continents: similarities and differences in the mechanism of heat loss. J Geophys Res 86:11535–11552.
Takherist D, Lesquer A (1989) Détermination du flux de chaleur en Algérie; implications géodynamiques des fortes valeurs observées au nord du massif du Hoggar. Can J Earth Sci 26:615–626.
Vacquier V (1984) Oil fields — a source of heat flow data. Tectonophysics 103:81–98.
Vasseur G, Lucazeau F, Bayer R (1985) The problem of heat flow density determinations from inaccurate data. Tectonophysics 121:25–34.
Verheijen PJT, Ajakaiye DE (1979) Heat flow measurements in the Ririwai ring complex, Nigeria. Tectonophysics 54:27–32.
Vitorello I, Hamza VM, Pollack HN (1980) Terrestrial heat flow in the Brazilian highlands. J Geophys Res 85:3778–3788.
Woodside W, Messmer JH (1962) Thermal conductivity of porous media. J Appl Phys 32:1688–1706.
Zolotarev VG, Sochel’nikov VV (1980) Geothermal conditions of the African Sicilian rise. Izvestiya Phys Solid Earth 16:202–206.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lucazeau, F., Lesquer, A., Vasseur, G. (1991). Trends of Heat Flow Density from West Africa. In: Čermák, V., Rybach, L. (eds) Terrestrial Heat Flow and the Lithosphere Structure. Exploration of the Deep Continental Crust. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75582-8_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75582-8_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-75584-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-75582-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive