A geothermal study of the Jharia Gondwana basin (India): Heat flow results from several holes and heat production of basement rocks

Temperatures have been measured in nine boreholes (ranging from 400 to 900 m in depth) in the Jharia Gondwana sedimentary basin of the Indian shield. About two hundred thermal conductivity determinations have been made on core samples from these holes. Temperature profiles, Bullard plots and heat flow profiles of these holes indicate different types of disturbances in the shallow geothermal regime, attributable principally to groundwater movement. Heat flow in the region of the “anticlinal high” is about 0.4 HFU higher than the heat flow in the main synclinal region of the basin. The possible sources for this variation are regional groundwater movement and upwelling of thermal waters through a deep-seated fault/fracture system. The heat flow of 1.9 HFU characterizing the main synclinal region, taken as the regional value for the basin as a whole, has been related to the heat generation of the Precambrian basement rocks. A plot of heat flow vs. heat generation falls in line with three plots for the Precambrian complexes of the Indian shield, indicating the absence of a thermal anomaly due to deeper crustal conditions underneath this basin.