Thermo-hydro-chemical simulation of mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems: Static 2D models and effects of paleo-seawater chemistry

DePaolo et al. Gcubed 2022 data files

Thermo-hydro-chemical simulation of mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems: 

Static 2D models and effects of paleo-seawater chemistry 

In this folder are input and output files for v3.68 of TOUGHREACT that contain all of the files illustrated in the manuscript plus many more. Also included is v3 TOUGHREACT reference manual, which gives more information on all of the input and output files.

In each folder there are a sequence of run folders, each containing input files (flow.inp, solute.inp, chemical.inp, MESH, GENER, plus a thermodynamic database with filename like “tkslth06acp3isi9.dat.” Also included are raw tecplot files (flowvector.tec, flowdata.tec, rct_sfarea.tec, rctn_rate.tec, min_SI.tec, minerals.tec, aqconc.tec) and other output files (all “.out” files).  In some cases the .tec files, which are combined files with output for both fractures and matrix, have been separated into separate fracture and matrix files with names like “flowvector_frc.tec,” “flowvector_mtx.tec,” aqconc_frc.tec,” “aqconc_mtx.tec” to allow plotting of fracture and matrix properties separately.

Some folders also contain .tiff or .png files that are 2D color contour plots as shown in the manuscript.  All of these plots were made with Paraview (https://www.paraview.org) which is open-source.

Each folder labeled like “Modern SW fastcpx Sr8…” contains several subfolders each labeled with the model year at which the run ends, like 2000, 2600, 2700, 2800, … which correspond to the warmup steps described in the manuscript:

The typical procedure used to achieve the results reported here is (with some minor variations):

1. Run the simulation for 2000 model years with 50% of the final heating from below and minimal chemical reactions. RSA for primary minerals in both matrix and fractures are set to 10^-6 cm²/g and 2 x 10^-6cm²/g for secondary minerals, which yields chemical reaction rates about 500 times slower than for a more realistic system.
2. Run for an additional 600 model years with the full heating from below and RSA’s at 10^-6 cm²/g and 2 x 10^-6 cm²/g. This step yields a steady state temperature and flow field with the full heating from below. Less time is needed than for the first phase because the fluid flow velocities are higher with higher heating rates.
3. Run an additional 100 years; RSA’s increased to 10^-5 cm²/g and 2 x 10^-5 cm²/g
4. Run 100 years; RSA’s at 10^-4 cm²/g and 2 x 10^-4 cm²/g*
5. Run 100 years; RSA’s at 2 x 10^-4 cm²/g and 4 x 10^-4 cm²/g*
6. Run 50 years; RSA’s at 3 x 10^-4 cm²/g and 5 x 10^-4 cm²/g*
7. Run 50 years; RSA’s at 4 x 10^-4 cm²/g and 8 x 10^-4 cm²/g*
8. Run 100 additional years*

After step 8 the system has been running for 3100 model years, but only 150 years with full reactions, which is long enough to get close to quasi-steady state fluid chemistry (there is no true steady state for chemistry because the rock mineralogy is changing with time). For each of the steps marked with an asterisk, an alternative procedure is to use high RSA’s for fracture minerals, up to 50 times higher. 

In some folders there are additional subfolders extending in model time up to 3400 years.