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Heat Flow in Britain: an Assessment of the Values and Their Reliability

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Terrestrial Heat Flow in Europe

Abstract

This paper summarises the 71 values of heat flow that have been collected to date in England, Scotland and Wales. The mean heat flow for the region is 58.5 mWm−2. Belts of relatively high and relatively low values are defined.

All heat flow determinations compiled in this paper have been made from temperature gradients measured down boreholes or mines, combined with measured or assigned values of thermal conductivity. Various methods have been employed in obtaining these parameters and, in order to permit comparisons between results, a reliability code is assigned to each heat flow value. The first number of the code refers to temperature measurements and the criteria employed are summarised in Table 1. The second number refers to thermal conductivity values measured or assigned as summarised in Table 2. The conditions implied by a specific code apply to at least 150 m of the hole or the total depth if less than 150 m. In general, higher values of the code imply greater reliability than lower ones.

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© 1979 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bloomer, J.R., Richardson, S.W., Oxburgh, E.R. (1979). Heat Flow in Britain: an Assessment of the Values and Their Reliability. In: Čermák, V., Rybach, L. (eds) Terrestrial Heat Flow in Europe. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-95357-6_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-95357-6_31

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-95359-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-95357-6

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