SlugPen and SlugHeat

We are making available to users of the Marine Heat Flow Capability two programs that are helpful in parsing heat flow data collected with the OSU heat-flow system into separate penetration records and processing resulting measurement data. Both programs were written in Matlab (using the App Designer toolbox), are available for download, and are described and demonstrated in Dickerson et al. (2024). The two programs, SlugPen and SlugHeat, are based on earlier generations of tools, but offer new functionality to aid in data processing, including graphical interaction and the ability to remove a subset of sensor data if needed. With SlugPen, the user identifies individual probe penetration records, selects “bottom water” calibration data, and writes a file of corrected data for subsequent processing. SlugHeat processes individual thermistor penetration records to derive in-situ temperatures, thermal conductivities (when data are collected for this purpose using the multipenetration system), and heat flow values. The program includes options for discarding individual thermistor records, and a Monte Carlo analysis that assesses the impacts of uncertainties in both thermal conductivity and the locations of boundaries between sediment layers. Source code, example input and output files, and written instructions accompany these codes as part of the distribution package on Github.

AGU poster on SlugPen and SlugHeat:

SlugSed

SlugSed is a one-dimensional numerical model of fluid and heat transport coded in Matlab (Hutnak and Fisher, 2007). In its most basic form, the model calculates the temperature distribution within a medium of finite thickness and known thermal conductivity and heat capacity, given appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The initial conditions consist of depth, temperature, rate(s) of radiogenic heat production or loss, and thermal conductivity for discrete points within the medium. The boundary conditions must be specified as temperature at the top of the medium and either temperature or heat flux at the bottom, and both can be time-variant. SlugSed can accommodate multiple distinct basement layers, each having independent property sets. In the case of sedimentation, the depth-variant physical and thermal properties within the accumulating sediment layer are derived from a user-specified porosity versus depth function. The thermal properties of basement layers (when in use) can be specified in bulk (i.e., applied to all points within the layer) or individually. Seepage of fluids within the sediment layer can be driven by compaction and consolidation, fluid overpressures in basement, or imposed explicitly.