Thermal Anomalies and Fluid Flow in the Continental Crust

流体几乎参与了所有的地质过程，并且在大陆地壳深处至少10到15公里处无处不在。由于热量是由流体运动平流而来，这可能导致独特的热异常模式，这可以解释为深入了解流体路径和机制。重新提出了对瓦希托山脉-阿科马盆地地区过去和现在温度的实地研究，以深入了解大陆地壳中流体流动的机制以及流体迁移与造山作用之间可能关系的本质。Arkoma盆地和Ouachita山脉引起了人们的兴趣，因为它们被认为是热卤水的来源，这些热卤水在宾夕法尼亚晚期-二叠世早期（约300 +25 Ma）淹没了北美，导致了广泛的钾蚀变，形成了密西西比河谷型（MVT）铅锌矿床，以及古磁极的可能重置。数学模型也将用于评估关于大陆地壳中流体流动机制的各种假设。建模将包括以下方面的研究：(1)压实或变质衍生流体的时间聚焦；(2)自由对流在地壳中灾难性地释放热量，以及自由对流和强制对流流的相互作用；(3)自由对流在倾斜地质介质（如可能发生在沉积盆地中的地质介质）中发挥重要作用的条件。数学建模的结果将与实地研究收集的数据结合使用，以评估有关大陆地壳流体流动的假设，特别是有关构造驱动的流体迁移的假设。

Fluids are involved in nearly all geologic processes, and are ubiquitous in the continental crust to depths of at least 10 to 15 km. As heat is advected by fluid movement, it may lead to distinctive patterns of thermal anomalies which can be interpreted to gain insight into fluid pathways and mechanisms. Field studies of past and present temperatures in the Ouachita Mountains- Arkoma basin area re proposed to gain insight into the mechanisms by which fluid flow occurs in the continental crust and the nature of possible relationships between fluid migrations and orogenesis. The Arkoma basin and Ouachita mountains are of interest because they have been implicated as a source of the hot brines which apparently flooded North America in Late Pennsylvanian-Early Permian time (about 300 +25 Ma), leading to widespread potassic alteration, formation of Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) lead-zinc deposits, and possible resetting of paleomagnetic poles. Mathematical models will also be used to evaluate various hypotheses concerning the mechanisms by which fluid flow takes place in the continental crust. Modeling will include a study of (1) temporal focusing of compaction- or metamorphic-derived fluids, (2) catastrophic release of heat in the crust from free convection an the interaction of free- and forced- convective flow regimes, and (3) the conditions under which free convection is important in tilted geologic media such as may occur in sedimentary basins. Results of the mathematical modeling will be used in conjunction with data collected in field studies to evaluate hypotheses concerning fluid flow in the continental crust, particularly in reference to tectonically-driven fluid migrations.