Thermal transport properties of major Archean rock types to high temperature and implications for cratonic geotherms

Use of temperature-dependent thermal transport properties in numerical models reveals that surface geotherms can be relatively insensitive to crustal heat production, because high heat-producing TTG rocks typically have high thermal diffusivity and conductivity at low temperatures and, consequently, are more efficient conductors of the heat they produce. This finding implies that calculations of crustal heat production from surface borehole measurements may entail significant uncertainties.