Depth-Dependent Permeability and Heat Output at Basalt-Hosted Hydrothermal Systems Across Mid-Ocean Ridge Spreading Rates

Rapid hydrothermal cooling above the axial melt lens at fast-spreading mid-ocean ridge

Axial melt lenses sandwiched between the lower oceanic crust and the sheeted dike sequences at fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges are assumed to be the major magma source of oceanic crust accretion. According to the widely discussed "gabbro glacier" model, the formation of the lower oceanic crust requires efficient cooling of the axial melt lens, leading to partial crystallization and crystal-melt...

High-Resolution 3D Simulations of Mid-ocean Ridge Hydrothermal Systems

Physical response of mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems to local earthquakes

[1] Observations from the East Pacific Rise (EPR) and the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge show that local earthquake swarms can lead to increased hydrothermal venting temperatures after a delay of several days. I develop two models for this process. In the temperature perturbation model, a new pathway opens to a heat source, and the temperatures of fluids leaving the reaction zone i...

Modeling the effects of tidal loading on mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems

[1] Tidal signals are observed in numerous time-series measurements obtained from mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems. In some instances these tidal signals are clearly the result of ocean currents, but in other instances it appears that the signals may originate in the subseafloor formation. In order to explore the effect of ocean tidal loading on mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems, we appl...

Magmatic filtering of mantle compositions at mid-ocean-ridge volcanoes

Earth’s dominant form of magmatism occurs at mid-ocean ridges (MORs), producing the igneous crust for two-thirds of the planet’s surface and conveying significant heat and material fluxes from the mantle to the world’s oceans. Mid-ocean-ridge basalt (MORB) magmas form from upwelling compositionally heterogeneous mantle1 by aggregation of near-fractional melts beneath spreading centres2. Multipl...