A combination of waveform tomography and hydrothermal modelling allows characterizing the mechanisms and reach of fluid flux and ocean plate cooling near mid-ocean ridges with unprecedented detail.
hydrothermal systems
Coupled Mechanisms of Fluid Transport Across the Crust
Magmatic fluid moves up in the ductile zone through porosity waves, accumulates in high-porosity lenses, and migrates across the brittle zone in a convection pattern involving also meteoric fluid.
Why Study Geysers?
Aside from captivating our senses, geysers have much to tell us about subsurface fluids, climate change effects, and the occurrence and limits of life on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system.
Hydrothermal Vents May Add Ancient Carbon to Ocean Waters
Data from a long-distance research cruise provide new insights into carbon cycling in the eastern Pacific and Southern Oceans.
Geoscientific Monitoring of Olkaria’s Geothermal Motor
In situ geophysical measurements from Kenya’s Olkaria geothermal field, integrated with remote sensing and meteorological data, shed light on subsurface energy transport to and from the surface.
Life in the Chicxulub Crater Years After It Was Formed
While the seas were still churning from the impact and the seawater temperatures were high due to the hydrothermal activity, life was reestablishing itself inside the crater.
Chicxulub Impact Crater Hosted a Long-Lived Hydrothermal System
Chemical and mineralogical evidence of fluid flow—potentially conducive to microscopic life—was revealed in rock cores extracted from the crater’s “peak ring.”
Basalts Turn Carbon into Stone for Permanent Storage
Scientists have shown that mineral carbonation can permanently capture and store carbon quickly enough and safely enough to rise to the challenge of climate change.
Microbes Discovered Hanging Out in the Ocean’s Crust
“The lower ocean crust is one of the last frontiers of the exploration for life on Earth.”
Gas Bubble Forensics Team Surveils the New Zealand Ocean
An international research group recorded the acoustic signatures of gas bubbles rising from a hydrothermal vent field to gather clues about greenhouse gases escaping into the atmosphere.