V11A-3057
Numerical Modeling of Brine Formation and Serpentinization at the Rainbow Hydrothermal System

Monday, 14 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Pavithra Sekhar, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, United States and Robert P Lowell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Geosciences, Blacksburg, VA, United States
Abstract:
The Rainbow hydrothermal field on the Mid Atlantic Ridge is a high-temperature hydrothermal system hosted in peridotite. The vent fluids are rich in methane and hydrogen suggesting that serpentinization is occurring at depth in the system. Vent temperature of ~365°C, salinity of ~4.5 wt%, and heat output of ~500 MW suggest that Rainbow field is driven by a magmatic heat source and that phase separation is occurring at depth.

To understand the origin of high salinity in the Rainbow hydrothermal fluid, we construct a 2D numerical model of two-phase hydrothermal circulation using the numerical simulator FISHES. This code uses the finite volume method to solve the conservation of mass, momentum, energy, and salt equations in a NaCl-H2O fluid. We simulate convection in an open top 2D box at a surface pressure of 23 MPa and seawater temperature of 10oC. The bottom and sides of the box are insulated and impermeable, and a fixed temperature distribution is maintained at the base to ensure phase separation. We first consider a homogeneous model with a permeability of 10-13 m2 and system depths of 2 and 1 km, respectively. The brine-derived fluid from the deeper system barely exceeds seawater, whereas the shallower system produces a short pulse of 9.0 wt% for 5 years. We then consider 1 km deep systems with a high permeability discharge zone of 5x10-13 m2 that corresponds to a fault zone, surrounded by recharge zones of 10-13, 10-14 and 10-15 m2, respectively. The model with recharge permeability of 10-14 m2 yields stable plumes that vent brine-derived fluid of 4.2 wt% for 150 years. Using the quasi- steady state of this model as a base, we estimate the rate of serpentinization along the fluid flow paths, and evolution of porosity and permeability. This analysis will indicate the extent to which serpentinization will affect the dynamics of the system and will provide insight into methane flux in the Rainbow vent field.

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