HeatBar

HeatBar - Basement Heat Generation and Heat Flow in the western Barents Sea - Importance for hydrocarbon systems

The HeatBar project aims to determine the relative proportion of heat originating in the basement of the western Barents Sea and, as such, follows the methodologies and scientific approach developed in the course of the 2005-2008 Kontiki Project (Fig. 1). We propose to shed new lights on the thermal state of the basins of the western Barents Sea by (1) determining the heat flow and the relative content in heat-producing elements of the basement onshore northern Norway, (2) building 3D structural models of the basement offshore based on extensive geophysical information and (3) building 3D thermal models of the basins offshore. The HeatBar project is scheduled from 2005-2010.

Figure 1: The Kontiki and HeatBar scientific approach.

Figure 2: Results from the Båtsfjordfjellet drillhole (eastern Finnmark): a) Temperature profile superimposed on the gamma log and simplified lithostratigraphic column. b) Computed thermal gradient (least-squared on a 10 m moving window) and measured thermal conductivies on core material.

Main participants