Crustal Heat Production in the Australian Antarctic Territory
This map presents radiogenic crustal heat production values calculated from available geochemical data from basement rock exposures from across the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT). Heat production is derived from the radiogenic decay of the radioactive elements, primarily, U, Th and K. This map, along with the companion GA record (2012/63), highlights the magnitude and heterogeneity of crustal heat production across the AAT, and provides earth scientists with the first crustal heat production assessment across much of East Antarctica.
Crustal heat production values across the AAT show a wide range from negligible to as much as 65 'Wm-3. Generally, elevated heat production values are characteristic of Cambrian felsic intrusives, with intermediate values from Proterozoic intrusive and metasediments (2-8 Wm-3), and low values (<2 'Wm-3) from Archean rocks.
A good illustration of the correlation of geological age with heat production is from Prydz Bay (map 5), where the Vestfold Hills (mostly ~2500 Ma in age) exhibits uniformly low heat production (average ~0.8 'Wm-3), whereas Proterozoic rocks south of the Vestfold Hills have intermediate values (average ~2.6 'Wm-3). Cambrian intrusives, in contrast, have significantly elevated values (average ~15 'Wm-3).
We anticipate that this simple compilation of crustal heat production may form a basis for future studies on the thermal structure of the East Antarctic crust, in particular, sub-glacial heat flow, which remains a critical, yet poorly characterised, boundary parameter controlling the dynamic behaviour of the vast Antarctic ice sheet.
For further information and data tables, the reader is referred to 'A reconnaissance crustal heat production assessment of the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT)' by C. J. Carson and M. Pittard, GA record 2012/063 (pp 57), Geocat 74073.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2013-01-01T00:00:00
- Date (Publication)
- 2016-09-28T00:00:00
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/75300
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Publisher Geoscience Australia
Canberra Author Carson, C.J.
1 Author Woods, M.A.
2 Author Spalding, A.
3 Author Pittard, M.
4
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Custodian EGD
Owner Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- Topic category
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- Geoscientific information
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- Keywords
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Thematic Map
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Geoscience
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- Theme
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Antarctic data
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- Theme
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geothermal
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- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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Geothermics and Radiometrics
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
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4.0
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- License
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- License
Resource constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
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- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- OnLine resource
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Download the map (pdf)
Download the map (pdf)
- OnLine resource
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Related product: A reconnaissance crustal heat production assessment of the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT)
Related product: A reconnaissance crustal heat production assessment of the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT)
- OnLine resource
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Related product: Hot rocks add heat to ice sheet models
Related product: Hot rocks add heat to ice sheet models
- OnLine resource
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Related product: Hot rocks in a cold place: high sub-glacial heat flow in east Antarctica
Related product: Hot rocks in a cold place: high sub-glacial heat flow in east Antarctica
Resource lineage
- Statement
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Unknown
- Hierarchy level
- Non geographic dataset
- Other
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Thematic Map
- Description
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This map product, and the data used to construct it (GA record 74073, geocat record 74073) is derived wholly within the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT)
Extent
))
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
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urn:uuid/d5a71b03-5cbb-3fa5-e044-00144fdd4fa6
- Title
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GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Non geographic dataset
- Name
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nonGeographicDataset
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/75300
- Date info (Revision)
- 2018-04-22T08:48:13
- Date info (Creation)
- 2013-02-14T00:00:00
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551