Heat flow determinations of ODP Hole 111-504B

Hole 504B in the eastern equatorial Pacific has been the focus of five scientific drilling expeditions since it was first drilled in 1979. During these five legs, a series of temperature logs has been obtained over a time span of almost 8 yr, documenting the geothermal and hydrologic state of the oceanic crust in this region. Immediately following reentry at the onset of ODP Leg 111 operations, a high-resolution temperature probe was lowered into the borehole and a precise record of temperature vs. depth in Hole 504B was recorded down to 1300 mbsf.
As was observed during previous legs, the temperature gradient in the upper 400 m was reduced, indicating that downhole flow of cool ocean waters through the casing continued, though at a diminished rate. As subhydrostatic pressures in the upper basement have gradually diminished, the volume of flow has decayed from an estimated 6000-7000 L/hr in late 1979 to about 80 L/hr during Leg 111.
At depths below 480 mbsf, a predominantly conductive heat transfer environment enabled the temperature gradient log to be analyzed with respect to lithology on both fine and broad scales. Anomalies in the gradient log in the cased section through the sedimentary column were found to correspond to biostratigraphic age markers and/or sharp changes in sediment composition and texture. Broad variations in temperature gradient within the basement correlated with large-scale porosity trends.
Conductive heatflow estimates depict a systematic reduction with depth, ranging from approximately 196 mW/m**2 in the sediments to 120 ± 17 mW/m**2 at 1300 mbsf. Possible causes for this observation were examined from several perspectives, but none was suitably convincing. A fluid instability analysis indicated the likely existence of convection cells within the borehole and substantiated the hypothesis of mixing within the borehole postulated from isotopic and chemical studies of borehole waters. However, such mixing of borehole fluids does not provide an adequate explanation for the heatflow variations, and the disparity between surficial and deep values of heat flow remains unresolved.