A brief review of heat-flow studies in the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California

The continuous sediment cover has allowed detailed and extensive mapping of the distribution of surface heat flow throughout the Guaymas basin; more than 400 heat-flow measurements have been collected since 1959 in crust ranging in age from 0 to about 3 Ma. Away from the sites of crustal accretion, the background heat flow throughout the Guaymas Basin is about 180±10 mW/m². Within the two spreading centers of the basin, known as the northern and southern troughs, heat-flow values range from 0 to nearly 9 W/m², and variations of two orders of magnitude occur over distances as short as a few hundred meters. Heat-flow patterns generally follow the northeast-southwest structural trend of the central troughs but are locally controlled by recent intrusive activity and associated hydrothermal circulation. -from Authors