HEAT FLOW PATTERN IN PANXI PALEORIFT ZONE, SW CHINA AND ITS MECHANIAL IMPLICATIONS

To date, reliable heat flow values at 11 sites have been obtained in Panxi paleorift zone varying from 40 to 90 mW/m2 with the mean of 6315 mW/m2. Heat flow pattern in Panxi paleorift zone depends not only on the radio-heat generation of the rock strata, but also on the distance between heat flow test sites and the main faults in the central part of the zone. This has been recognized as a result of the compressional movement of the related faults since Paleocene. Compressional slip of a fault must result in the occurence. of frictional heat, leading to the appearence of local thermal anonaly on both sides of the fault. Based on heat flow data at Yanbian-Miyi-Dukou area in the central part of the zone, the relationship between frictional stress () and the slip rate (v) of Xigeda fault (one of the dominant faults in the zone) may be considered to lie betweenv = 697.4mW/m2 andv = 396.3mW/m2