What is it about?

The intrusion ofmagmas can induce hydrothermal convection which in turn enhances the transport of heat and solutes. We use a heat convection model to interpret the temperature evolution documented by organic matter maturation, as recorded by the vitrinite reflectance Rr, in a contact aureole of a 15mthick basaltic sill in the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) 41–368 hole near Cape Verde Rise, eastern Atlantic. Here there is a pronounced asymmetry of variations of Rr with distance above and below the sill that cannot be explained by heat conduction alone. Neglecting the effects of possible two-phase flow and thermal pressurization from the production of fluids, convection begins to enhance the observed asymmetry for permeabilities greater than about 1md, and the observations can be matched with permeabilities of at least several tens of millidarcies.

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Why is it important?

understand the heat and solute trasport processes in a contact aureole

Perspectives

It is a bridge connecting the profile of organic maturation with the thermal evoluton of the contact aureole.

Dr Dayong Wang
Dalian Univ. of Technology

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Organic matter maturation in the contact aureole of an igneous sill as a tracer of hydrothermal convection, Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth, June 2015, American Geophysical Union (AGU),
DOI: 10.1002/2015jb011877.
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