Special features of heat flow in transform faults of the North Atlantic and Southeast Pacific

Abstract

The paper reports on the morphostructure and heat flow in zones of transform faults of the North Atlantic and the Southeast Pacific, focusing on the fundamental difference between heat flow in active and inactive parts of the faults. In the active parts, which are located between segments of the mid-ocean ridge (MOR), the measured heat flow is close to that observed in the rift zones of MORs. The heat flow is considered a joint effect of the thermal conductivity of the oceanic crust and convective heat and mass transfer by thermal waters inside the oceanic crust. In the inactive parts of the faults, with distance from the MOR, the heat flow decreases to the background rates typical of thalassocratons. The sedimentation rate in a fault zone and conductive heat flow refraction resulting from the heterogeneous thermal characteristics of the geological section are the factors that deflect heat flow.