Heat flow estimates offshore Haiti in the Caribbean plate

Frédérique Rolandone (1) , Francis Lucazeau (2) , Jeffrey Poort (1) , Sylvie Leroy (3)

1 iSTeP - Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris
2 IPGP - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
3 iSTeP - Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris

Heat-flow in the Caribbean is poorly known and generally low in the major basins and the Greater Antilles arc, but with some high values in active zones, like in the Cayman trough or in the Lesser Antilles Arc. Here we present new heat-flow data for offshore Haiti, which is part of the Greater Antilles arc. We obtain new heat-flow estimates from in situ measurements and Bottom Simulating Reflector (BSR). Both methods suggest a regionally low heat-flow, respectively 46 +/- 7 and 44 +/- 12 mW/m(2), with locally high values exceeding 80 mW/m(2). The high heat-flow values are generally located near faults, and could be related to fluid circulations. Our study confirms a low heat-flow pattern at the scale of the Caribbean but points out the existence of local-scale variability with high heat-flow along the northern faults of the Caribbean region.

Keywords: KeyWords Plus:CAYMAN TROUGH; BOUNDARY; RIDGE; SEGMENTATION; GEOCHEMISTRY; FAULT; SLIP; ARC

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences

Frédérique Rolandone, Francis Lucazeau, Jeffrey Poort, Sylvie Leroy. Heat flow estimates offshore Haiti in the Caribbean plate. Terra Nova, 2020, 32 (3), pp.179-186. ⟨10.1111/ter.12454⟩. ⟨insu-02932926⟩