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.

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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
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
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Custodian

EGD
Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

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

  • Thematic Map

  • Geoscience

Theme

  • Antarctic data

Theme

  • geothermal

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

  • Geothermics and Radiometrics

Keywords

  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
License

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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OnLine resource

Download the map (pdf)

Download the map (pdf)

OnLine resource

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

Related product: Hot rocks add heat to ice sheet models

Related product: Hot rocks add heat to ice sheet models

OnLine resource

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

Unknown

Hierarchy level
Non geographic dataset
Other

Thematic Map

Description

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

N
S
E
W


Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/d5a71b03-5cbb-3fa5-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice

Type of resource

Resource scope
Non geographic dataset
Name

nonGeographicDataset

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/75300

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/d5a71b03-5cbb-3fa5-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-22T08:48:13
Date info (Creation)
2013-02-14T00:00:00

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

Antarctic data geothermal

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