Heat flow and thermal evolution of the lithosphere of the Black Sea basin

In most of the studies devoted to the analysis of the thermal regime of the Black Sea basins, the high sedimentation rate is regarded to be the principal reason for the low values of the surface heat flow as compared to the deep flow. We used the basin modeling technique for a more detailed assessment of this issue with regard to the new geological and geophysical data on the age and structure of the sedimentary cover and basement of the Black Sea basins. The use of enhanced seismic data, together with a more accurate estimation of the age limits of the sedimentary sequences in the region, allowed us to refine the results of the previous studies. Based on the calculations performed for an actual cross section with actual properties of the sedimentary rocks under compaction and the basement rocks, it is shown that any version of the sedimentation and evolution of the basin compatible with the geological and geophysical data available lead to heat flow values that are significantly greater than those actually observed. Our analysis proves that the sedimentation alone, as was implied in the previous studies, cannot explain the decrease in the deep heat flow at the floor surface down to values of about 34 mW/m(2). It is shown that the temperature influence of the invasion of dense though heated waters of the Mediterranean Sea that occurred about 7000 years ago helps one to explain the low present-day heat flow values in the deep-water parts of the Western and Eastern basins of the Black Sea. The application of the basin modeling technique allowed us to pose a version of the thermal evolution of the lithosphere in the Western basin of the Black Sea compatible with the high heat flow at the end of the Cretaceous, with three stages of subsidence of the sea floor down to its present-day depths, and with the low heat flow values measured in the basin. According to the geophysical data, this version implies a relatively high-temperature present-day thermal regime in the basin's lithosphere with a lithosphere thickness of about 60 km.