M.Khristoforova
Department of Physics, Kazan State University, Kazan, Russia.
I made temperature measurements in the boreholes located on the East European platform and adjacent regions and studied the variation of heat flow from the Earth's interior (together with the workers of Kazan State University). My hypothesis is that the large-scale heat flow distribution reveals the configuration of core flows. I analyzed the heat flow distributions (q = f (r) lines where r is the distance from the arbitrary point) along the meridian and latitude profiles in the East European platform and adjacent regions. Data for q = f (r) profiles are derived from (Khristoforova, 2001 and Geothermal Atlas of Europe, 1991). The q = f (r) lines are smoothed out. These are the periodic curves, oscillatory in character. The decrease in integrated amplitude of curves from the south northwards can be seen on all plots of the meridional direction (from the south active to the north passive continent margin in the European part of Russia). It is obvious that the deep geodynamic processes, which cause such a distribution, are influenced by natural laws. The average values of velocity of recent vertical lithosphere movements decrease in the same direction. The large-scale q = f(r) distributions are similar in all profiles. For the profiles of the latitude direction, the decrease in integrated amplitude of curves can be seen from the Mediterranean region eastwards and westwards. Observed heat flow (in average) is significantly variable, ranging from about 80 to 50 mW m^{-2}. The q = f (r) curves have characteristic sizes (the distance between centres of average qmax and qmin) of the order 3000 to 4000 km. Thus, we shown the wavy character of q = f(r) integrated curves with the half-period t/2 = 3000 km and more. This size suggests that the nature of these large-scale heat flow variations can be related to the outer core or to the lower mantle. Heat flows on these profiles appear to display approximately uniform distribution. The similarities in heat flow pattern suggest a similar causal mechanism. These peculiarities of the heat flow distributions may be explained by the existence of convection flows in the outer core. We may also suppose that the changes in heat flow as a constant sloping component of the q = f(r) (and V = f(r) curves) are the large period variations, which can be related to the outer core dynamics.