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Rift2ridge2D: a ThermoHydroMechanical model

01.08.2022
Rift2ridge2D
Snapshot of conductive [a] and advective [b] heat flow, and permeability field with isotherms [white lines] after ~10 Myr of hydrothermal activity in a young oceanic basin.

 

Our dynamical code rift2ridge2D for ocean-basin tectonic modelling (developed within the framework of the Modelling Enabler REACTOR project), includes now a hydrothermal flow module, and has so evolved into a ThermoHydroMechanical model (THM). Initial model runs at slow-spreading rates show an unprecedented view of margin-scale hydrothermal activity. The spatial patterns of hydrothermal vent fields match with the type of spatial variability typically observed across mid-ocean ridges [b], with peaks around one order of magnitude higher than those from conductive heat flow [a]. A generalised cooling in the subsea  environment goes along the direction of the last global analyses of ocean heat flow based on the Global Heat Flow Database. 

Our simulations show that only a tectonically-driven spatially-varying permeability allow for the hydrothermal fields to properly develop.