Abstract
REGIONAL studies of geothermal gradient patterns obtained from bottom hole temperature measurements in deep oil exploration boreholes have been the subject of several recent papers1–3. Harper1 has produced approximate gradients in a study of the North Sea by the direct use of bottom hole temperatures routinely taken during the logging of exploration wells. These temperatures, which are taken with a maximum mercury-in-glass thermometer at a point typically 30 foot from the bottom of the hole, are, in general, less than the true formation temperature as a result of the cooling effect of the circulating drilling fluid.
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EVANS, T., COLEMAN, N. North Sea Geothermal Gradients. Nature 247, 28–30 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/247028a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/247028a0
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