Determinación del flujo de calor a partir de sondeos petroleros en la Cuenca Catalano-Balear

A method using information from oil wells has been applied to calculate heat flow at seven oil wells in the Valencia trough, a Neogene extensional basin located in the western Mediterranean. Most of these weils penetrate the Cenozoic sedimentary cover and the underlying Mesozoic sequences and the Paleozoic basement. The basic data set consists of well logs, rock samples including cuttings and cores, and bottom hole (BHT) and dril1 stem test (DST) temperature data. Thermal conductivity of the rock matrix is determined from the conductivities and volumetric fractions of its mineral components by using a geometrical mean model. The in-situ thermal conductivity profile is then obtained as a function of porosity, and it is corrected for in-situ temperature conditions. The sonic log has been used to estimate the porosity profile, which has been corrected depending on the clay content of the formation. Finally, vertical heat flow variation is calculated at every well by combining bulk thermal conductivity profile and geothermal gradients.The bulk thermal conductivity has been shown to be very sensitive to lithologic and porosity changes, with values that vary from 1.5 W m-K-' for shales with over 40 percent porosity, to about 4.3 W m-' K-' for dolomites and consolidated quartz-rich sandstones that constitute the basement. The maximum thermal conductivity values are attained for the basement materials and are due to the low porosity (caused by compaction and burial) and to the high matrix conductivities of Mesozoic carbonates and sandstones. The mean bulk thermal conductivity of the sediments is found to be about 2 W m-' K-l. Therefore, a thermal blanketing effect is likely to occur due to the conductivity contrast between the sedimentary cover and the underlying basement. This effect, which has been neglected in previous models of the thermal evolution of the Valencia trough, probably has acted to slow down post-extensional lithospheric cooling and to reduce tectonic subsidence.A regional thermal gradient of 3612 "C km-' is obtained from the available temperature data. This value is siightly lower than that estimated from a set of wells in the southwestern part of the basin. The calculated heat flow values are highly scattered, the maximum value being located in the southwestern part of the basin. As a consequence, the resulting heat flow agrees with the increase towards the SW previously observed in the Valencia trough. The mean heat flow value in the study area is determined to be 85-90 mW m-2. Although thermal conductivity could be overestimated, this value is too high to be just a consequence of the rifting process in the Valencia trough, since most of the wells considered are located in the northernmost part of the basin. The thermal effect of groundwater circulation is proposed to be in part responsible for the positive and negative thermal gradient anomalies.Fracturing and karstification, which has been widely recognized in the Mesozoic carbonates in the basement, together with the temperature data and porosity results, support this hypothesis

Advances in the modeling of the Iberian thermal lithosphere and perspectives on deep geothermal studies

Renewable energy sources are key to achieve the transition toward clean energy system. Among them, the geothermal energy has a production whose effectiveness requires sufficient understanding of the temperature distribution and fluid circulation at depth, as well as of the lithological and petrophysical properties of the crust. The focus of this paper is twofold: first, we summarize the main advances in the development of new methodologies and numerical codes to characterize the properties of the thermal lithosphere in terms of its, temperature, density and composition; second, based on the compilation of available thermal modelling results, we present the depth of the thermal Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary (LAB) of the Iberian Peninsula and the temperature distribution at crustal depths of 5, 10, and 20 km, in addition to at Moho level. At 5 km depth, the temperature is above 110 °C with local anomalies (> 130 °C) located in the Iberian Massif and Cenozoic volcanic provinces. A similar pattern is observed at 10 and 20 km depth, where temperatures are above 190 °C and 350 °C, respectively. At 20 km depth, anomalies above > 500 °C, delineate the SE and NE Cenozoic volcanic provinces. At Moho depths, temperature ranges from 450 to 800 °C with hot regions mainly located along the Iberian Massif and the SE and NE volcanic provinces. The compiled results do not show any lithospheric anomaly that could give rise to high temperatures at shallow depths, but they do show an acceptable exploitation potential at intermediate depths. With regard to the direct use of district and greenhouse heating and for industrial processes, the potential is great throughout the Peninsula, the main challenges being the availability of groundwater and drilling costs

Influence of cratonic lithosphere on the formation and evolution of flat slabs: Insights from 3-D time-dependent modeling

Several mechanisms have been suggested for the formation of flat slabs including buoyant features on the subducting plate, trenchward motion and thermal or cratonic structure of the overriding plate. Analysis of episodes of flat subduction indicate that not all flat slabs can be attributed to only one of these mechanisms and it is likely that multiple mechanisms work together to create the necessary conditions for flat slab subduction. In this study we examine the role of localized regions of cratonic lithosphere in the overriding plate in the formation and evolution of flat slabs. We explicitly build on previous models, by using time-dependent simulations with three-dimensional variation in overriding plate structure. We find that there are two modes of flat subduction: permanent underplating occurs when the slab is more buoyant (shorter or younger), while transient flattening occurs when there is more negative buoyancy (longer or older slabs). Our models show how regions of the slab adjacent to the subcratonic flat portion continue to pull the slab into the mantle leading to highly contorted slab shapes with apparent slab gaps beneath the craton. These results show how the interpretation of seismic images of subduction zones can be complicated by the occurrence of either permanent or transient flattening of the slab, and how the signature of a recent flat slab episode may persist as the slab resumes normal subduction. Our models suggest that permanent underplating of slabs may preferentially occur below thick and cold lithosphere providing a built-in mechanism for regeneration of cratons

Subduction-related intermediate-depth and deep seismicity in Italy: insights from thermal and rheological modelling

Geological data suggest that, after a period of oceanic lithosphere subduction, about 170 km of continental lithosphere were subducted under the Northern Apennines since about 23 Myear at rates of ca. 1 cm/year, whereas more than 700 km of Mesozoic oceanic lithosphere (Ionian lithosphere) have been subducted under the Calabrian arc at rates of about 3 cm/year. However, a well-developed Wadati-Benioff zone can be only recognised below the Calabrian arc down to depths of 450-500 km, whereas intermediate-depth seismicity reaches maximum depths of about 90 km under the Northern Apennines. We model the thermal state of these two subduction zones and apply temperature-dependent non-linear rheological laws to evaluate the down-dip extent of brittle regions in the two subduction zones. We show that differences in subduction rate and in slab composition (continental vs. oceanic) produce a far deeper (down to 290-380 km) brittle field in the colder Calabrian slab than in the warmer Northern Apenninic slab (70-120 km), thus explaining differences in the maximum depth of seismicity in both regions. Concerning deep earthquakes in the Calabrian subduction zone, models predict that metastable olivine persists down to depths of 430 km. This could possibly explain the maximum depth of earthquakes in the area. The small extent of the metastable olivine wedge produces a small density anomaly that cannot explain the pervasive down-dip compression observed in the Ionian slab. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Opportunistic infections and AIDS malignancies early after initiating combination antiretroviral therapy in high-income countries

Background: There is little information on the incidence of AIDS-defining events which have been reported in the literature to be associated with immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) after combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation. These events include tuberculosis, mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), herpes simplex virus (HSV), Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), cryptococcosis and candidiasis. Methods: We identified individuals in the HIV-CAUSAL Collaboration, which includes data from six European countries and the US, who were HIV-positive between 1996 and 2013, antiretroviral therapy naive, aged at least 18 years, hadCD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA measurements and had been AIDS-free for at least 1 month between those measurements and the start of follow-up. For each AIDS-defining event, we estimated the hazard ratio for no cART versus less than 3 and at least 3 months since cART initiation, adjusting for time-varying CD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA via inverse probability weighting. Results: Out of 96 562 eligible individuals (78% men) with median (interquantile range) follow-up of 31 [13,65] months, 55 144 initiated cART. The number of cases varied between 898 for tuberculosis and 113 for PML. Compared with non-cART initiation, the hazard ratio (95% confidence intervals) up to 3 months after cART initiation were 1.21 (0.90-1.63) for tuberculosis, 2.61 (1.05-6.49) for MAC, 1.17 (0.34-4.08) for CMV retinitis, 1.18 (0.62-2.26) for PML, 1.21 (0.83-1.75) for HSV, 1.18 (0.87-1.58) for Kaposi sarcoma, 1.56 (0.82-2.95) for NHL, 1.11 (0.56-2.18) for cryptococcosis and 0.77 (0.40-1.49) for candidiasis. Conclusion: With the potential exception of mycobacterial infections, unmasking IRIS does not appear to be a common complication of cART initiation in high-income countries. © 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Opportunistic infections and AIDS malignancies early after initiating combination antiretroviral therapy in high-income countries

Background: There is little information on the incidence of AIDS-defining events which have been reported in the literature to be associated with immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) after combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation. These events include tuberculosis, mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), herpes simplex virus (HSV), Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), cryptococcosis and candidiasis. Methods: We identified individuals in the HIV-CAUSAL Collaboration, which includes data from six European countries and the US, who were HIV-positive between 1996 and 2013, antiretroviral therapy naive, aged at least 18 years, hadCD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA measurements and had been AIDS-free for at least 1 month between those measurements and the start of follow-up. For each AIDS-defining event, we estimated the hazard ratio for no cART versus less than 3 and at least 3 months since cART initiation, adjusting for time-varying CD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA via inverse probability weighting. Results: Out of 96 562 eligible individuals (78% men) with median (interquantile range) follow-up of 31 [13,65] months, 55 144 initiated cART. The number of cases varied between 898 for tuberculosis and 113 for PML. Compared with non-cART initiation, the hazard ratio (95% confidence intervals) up to 3 months after cART initiation were 1.21 (0.90-1.63) for tuberculosis, 2.61 (1.05-6.49) for MAC, 1.17 (0.34-4.08) for CMV retinitis, 1.18 (0.62-2.26) for PML, 1.21 (0.83-1.75) for HSV, 1.18 (0.87-1.58) for Kaposi sarcoma, 1.56 (0.82-2.95) for NHL, 1.11 (0.56-2.18) for cryptococcosis and 0.77 (0.40-1.49) for candidiasis. Conclusion: With the potential exception of mycobacterial infections, unmasking IRIS does not appear to be a common complication of cART initiation in high-income countries