Development of a Pogo-Mode Thermal Blanket for Bare Rock Heat Flow Measurements

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9617455 Johnson This Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) project will undertake to build an instrument capable of measuring heat flow in the unsedimented, neo-volcanic regions of the sea floor. The new heat flow instrument will be deployable from a surface ship, and have the capability of transferring thermal flux data to the ship in real time. Heat flow measurements at bare rock exposures near mid-ocean ridge spreading centers have been shown to be possible using a submersible, but these single-data-point measurements are difficult to interpret, due to the variability caused by sub-surface circulation of hydrothermal fluid. The dense spatial coverage of heat flow data possible using the proposed surface-ship deployable tool would allow us to move beyond isolated single measurements. With a number of closely- spaced heat flow stations at a ridge axis, it would be possible to identify zones of diffuse fluid upwelling, make quantitative estimates of the total heat of crustal formation in these areas, and determine how this energy is partitioned between convection and conduction. While there is uncertainty associated with the development of a heat flow blanket that is 'surface-ship deployable', the potential benefit of being able to answer these long-standing scientific questions is substantial.