TERRESTRIAL HEAT-FLOW, ESTIMATION OF DEEP TEMPERATURE AND SEISMICITY OF THE KAMCHATKA REGION

The results of heat-flow measurements in the Kamchatka region are discussed in this paper. On the basis of more than 60 continental measurements and a number of heat-flow measurements made at sea, a schematic heat-flow map has been compiled. An interpretation of the anomalous fraction of heat flow is made, and a likely temperature distribution in the lithosphere of Kamchatka was calculated based on 3-D modelling of the thermal field. An analysis is made of the geothermal regime of the Kamchatka sector of the focal zone. Temperature is shown to be the controlling factor for the maximum depth of occurrence of seismic events: the majority of earthquakes occur in a layer 0-100 kin thick, where the temperature does not exceed 700-degrees-C.