Journal Portal
Research Journal of Earth and Planetary Studies Vol 2(1) pp.053 – 064 May 2012
Available online http://www.globalresearchjournals.org/?a=journal&id=rjeps
Copyright ©2012 Global Research Journals
Case Study
Dike Thickness Effects in the Earth’s Crust Temperature Distribution, Applied to Gold Vein Site Prediction
Pablo Martín, Enrique Castro†, and Rafael Aldaz‡
Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Física, Apartado 89000, Caracas 1080A, Venezuela.
E-mail: pmartin@usb.ve
†Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Física, Apartado 89000, Caracas 1080A, Venezuela.
E-mail: ecastro@usb.ve
‡Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Apartado 89000, Caracas 1080A, Venezuela.
E-mail: aldazr@usb.ve
Accepted 5th January 2012
Abstract
The isotherm evolution resulting from a dike intrusion of a given width is here treated, within the boundary conditions imposed by the Earth surface isotherm. This new model is more realistic than the previous ones where a semi-infinite dike is considered. An analytic solution that satisfies the boundary conditions is found for the partial differential equation of the heat flux equations in the solidification process. The isotherms and their envelope for some peculiar temperatures are also found. The envelopes are very important, because they show where the mineral deposition has taken place. The new idea that the veins are determined by the envelope and not by the general solution could be of ample applications for other cases of mineral depositions. As a case of application the theoretical location of the gold veins in El Callao mines, Venezuela, has been studied. For this case the envelope of the and isotherms are here determined, and compared with previous works. The agreement with the actual locations of the galleries in the Colombia gold mine (El Callao, Venezuela) is much better now than in previous analysis, particularly when overheating is considered. The overheating is used to take into account convection phenomena.
Key words: Dike, Gold Vein, Earth surface isotherm, Venezuela.