Sedimented ridges as a laboratory for exploring the subsurface biosphere

Zierenberg, Robert A.; Holland, Melanie

doi:10.1029/144gm19

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Observations from the Atlantis II Deep confirm the existence of 'fountains' occurring on the seafloor immediately above the magma chamber [13,14,15,16,17]. However, these fountains cannot continue to flow unless fluids are recharged into the system from the flanks of the rift.…”

Section: Basis For the Numerical Modelingmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…The highest temperatures measured in the Red Sea brinepools are 70 o C [13]. This means that brines entering into the seafloor under forced convection, will have to pass into higher and higher temperatures, 1,000 o C, near the magma chamber.…”

Section: Basis For the Numerical Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Underneath the Atlantis II Deep there exists a 3-dimentional forced convection cell of circulating seawater and brine, driven by a shallow, strong heatsource [11,13,19].…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We modeled the Atlantis II Deep hydrothermal system by choosing a set of predicted boundary conditions and selecting the necessary physical and thermodynamic parameters as simple and realistic prerequisites, based on geophysical, drilling, and other published results, and from our geological model for the area [7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,19]. These were fed into the numerical 2D sedimentary basin model, combined with a numerical molecular model.…”

Section: Boundary Modeling Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The heat-source consists of a magma chamber, located 1 km sub-seabed (i.e., 3 km total depth below mean sea-level) [11,13].…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Numerical Modeling of Supercritical ‘Out-Salting’ in the “Atlantis II Deep” (Red Sea) Hydrothermal System

Hovland¹,

Rueslåtten²,

Kutznetsova³

et al. 2007

TOGEOJ

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Supercritical water behaves close to that of a non-polar fluid and its ability to dissolve salt ions is very low. In rifting locations world-wide, where hot vents occur, it has been shown that seawater attains supercritical conditions. We therefore anticipate that circulation of seawater in hydrothermal systems passing through regions of the supercritical domain results in spontaneous precipitation of salt particles. Thus, the hot 'geysers' of saturated brines observed in the 'Atlantis II Deep' of the Red Sea could result from re-dissolution of salts accumulated in underground fracture systems. Here we report on an advanced numerical modeling study which demonstrates, for the first time, that there is a forced convection cell where salts precipitate and accumulate. These combined numerical thermodynamic simulations and basin modelling results also demonstrate that hot brines reflux back to surface immediately above the magma chamber located beneath the axis of the rift. Based on this study, we predict that hydrothermal 'out-salting' is the main cause of dense, warm brines accumulating in the central portion of the Red Sea. Furthermore, the results are relevant for understanding how large volumes of evaporites (salts) accumulate along rifted plate margins.

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Section: Basis For the Numerical Modelingmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Basis For the Numerical Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Underneath the Atlantis II Deep there exists a 3-dimentional forced convection cell of circulating seawater and brine, driven by a shallow, strong heatsource [11,13,19].…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Boundary Modeling Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The heat-source consists of a magma chamber, located 1 km sub-seabed (i.e., 3 km total depth below mean sea-level) [11,13].…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Numerical Modeling of Supercritical ‘Out-Salting’ in the “Atlantis II Deep” (Red Sea) Hydrothermal System

Hovland¹,

Rueslåtten²,

Kutznetsova³

et al. 2007

TOGEOJ

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Red Sea Salt Formations—A Result of Hydrothermal Processes

Hovland¹,

Rueslåtten

Johnsen³

2015

The Red Sea

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Hydrothermal fluid migration and brine pool formation in the Red Sea: the Atlantis II Deep

Schardt

2015

Miner Deposita

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Numerical heat and fluid flow simulations of the Atlantis II Deep in the Red Sea were conducted to investigate the development, migration, and discharge of hydrothermal fluids into a submarine depression and determine the conditions necessary to form a brine pool. High-salinity fluids are predicted to form by leaching Miocene evaporates, migrate and convect within young oceanic crust, and discharge onto the seafloor. Predicted fluid discharge temperatures (T max , 301°C), discharge fluid velocities (V max , 0.09 m/s), and salinities (S max , 21 wt%) increase over time and reach values comparable to modern seafloor observations. Established convection patterns and discharge behavior are robust and are not greatly affected by geometry of rock property changes. Modeling results were used to calculate the minimum conditions for hydrothermal fluids from a developing hydrothermal system to mix with seawater, reverse buoyancy, and begin to form a brine pool in a submarine depression. Under conditions encountered on the seafloor (T, 25-300°C; S, 5-25 wt%), fluid mixtures predicted to pond on the seafloor range from late in the mixing process (99 %) at low temperatures (T, 26°C) to much earlier (36 % mixing) at higher temperatures (T, 94°C). A model of brine pool evolution is proposed that describes the processes and conditions necessary to initiate brine pool formation and compares formation conditions with accumulated ore material in the Atlantis II Deep and other locations.

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Sedimented ridges as a laboratory for exploring the subsurface biosphere

Cited by 6 publications

References 60 publications

Numerical Modeling of Supercritical ‘Out-Salting’ in the “Atlantis II Deep” (Red Sea) Hydrothermal System

Numerical Modeling of Supercritical ‘Out-Salting’ in the “Atlantis II Deep” (Red Sea) Hydrothermal System

Red Sea Salt Formations—A Result of Hydrothermal Processes

Hydrothermal fluid migration and brine pool formation in the Red Sea: the Atlantis II Deep

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