Heat flow and temperature-depth curves throughout Alaska: finding regions for future geothermal exploration

摘要

The objective of this research is to contribute to the understanding of the thermal regime of Alaska and its relationship to geology, regional tectonics, and to suggest potential sites for future geothermal energy production. New heat flow data were collected and are combined with existing published and unpublished data, although large sections of Alaska still lack data. Fault traces were implemented into the heat flow contouring as an additional gridding constraint, to incorporate both heat flow measurements and geology. New heat flow data supported the use of geologic trends in the heat flow mapping procedure, and a heat flow map of Alaska was produced with this added constraint. The multi-input contouring strategy allows production of a map with a regional interpretation of heat flow, in addition to site-specific heat flow and thermal model interpretations in areas with sufficient data density.