ESTIMATES OF TERRESTRIAL THERMAL GRADIENTS AND HEAT FLOW VARIATIONS WITH DEPTH IN THE HINTON‐EDSON AREA OF THE ALBERTA BASIN DERIVED FROM PETROLEUM BOTTOM‐HOLE TEMPERATURE DATA*

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Abstract
There is a significant increase in terrestrial heat flow with depth in the Hinton‐Edson area of the deep part of the western Canadian sedimentary basin in Alberta. This is especially true near the Rocky Mountain foothills which is an area of high relief, high hydraulic head and regional water recharge. Gravity‐imposed downward movement of meteoric water through the thick sedimentary strata with velocities as low as 10–10 m/s to 0.5 × 10–9 m/s may cause an increase of heat flow with depth. Such disturbance of heat flow with depth on a regional scale in the sedimentary strata means that it is not possible to determine the background conductive steady‐state heat flow associated with crustal or upper mantle heat sources in such an area from measurement of conductive heat flow in the part of the sedimentary column where water movement occurs. This is because the convective portion cannot be determined, particularly when measurements are made in only part of the regional hydrodynamic system of the basin.