Conductive heat loss in recent eruptions at mid-ocean ridges

Abstract

A new technique for measuring conductive heat flow from unsedimented volcanic rocks on the sea floor has been tested on two new eruption sites in the NE Pacific. This technique consists of isolating the surficial rocks from sea water using water-saturated urethane foam as an insulating thermal blanket. The thermal gradient transferred from the outcrop to the thermal blanket is a quantitative measurement of the conductive heat flow that takes place in unsedimented volcanic areas. We deployed two thermal blankets at 13 sites on the 1993 and 1996 Juan de Fuca/Gorda Ridge flows and found (1) a factor of 10 decrease in heat flow over a period of 12 months on the 1993 CoAxial flow, (2) a value of 6950 mW/m2 on the 8 month old Gorda flow, and (3) measurements of heat flow versus age-since-eruption indicate that newly extruded volcanic units are quite permeable to fluid circulation and cool rapidly by convection in only a few years. These new heat flux data confirm that the extrusive volcanic layer is not the primary heat source for long-lived, high temperature hydrothermal systems, which must instead rely on a more isolated thermal reservoir within the lower crustal rocks. Copyright 1997 by the American Geophysical Union.