EFFECT OF THE CRETACEOUS SERRA-GERAL IGNEOUS EVENT ON THE TEMPERATURES AND HEAT-FLOW OF THE PARANA BASIN, SOUTHERN BRAZIL (VOL 7, PG 239, 1994)

We investigate the effects of the cooling of intrusive and extrusive i gneous bodies on the temperature history and surface heat flow of the Parana Basin. The Serra Geral igneous event (130-135 Ma) covered most of this basin with flood basalts. Associated with this event numerous sills and dykes intruded the sediments and basement, and extensive und erplating may have occurred in the lower crust and upper mantle beneat h the basin. We develop an analytical model of the conductive cooling of tabular intrusive bodies and use it to calculate temperatures withi n the sediments as a function of time since emplacement. Depending on the thickness of these igneous bodies and the timing of sequential emp lacement, the thermal history of a given locus in the basin can range from a simple extended period of higher temperatures to multiple episo des of peak temperatures separated by cooling intervals. The cooling o f surface flood basalts, sills and dykes is capable of maintaining tem peratures above the normal geothermal gradient temperatures for a few hundred thousand years, while large-scale underplating may influence t emperatures for up to 10 million years. We conclude that any residual heat from the cooling of the Serra Geral igneous rocks has long since decayed to insignificant values and that present-day temperatures and heat flow are not affected. However, the burial of the sediments benea th the thick basalt cap caused a permanent temperature increase of up to 50 degrees C in the underlying sediments since the beginning of the Cretaceous.