Topographically Enhanced, Hydrothermal Convection through Oceanic Sediments and Crust

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This project will develop a series of numerical simulations to determine the influence of basement topography and an uneven sedimemt layer on off-axis, hydrothermal circulation through oceanic seciments and crust in a variety of settings. The investigators will cast the general problem in curvilinear coordinates and use the intergrated finite difference approach to problems of coupled heat and fluid flow. They will establish the relative importance of bathymetric amplitude and wavelength, crustal permeability structure, sediment thickness and uniformity, background heat flow, and the presence of discontinuous, impermeable sediment layers in determining the depth, geometry, and intensity of fluid fluxes away from the ridge axis.