Jörg Hasenclever

Hybrid shallow on-axis and deep off-axis hydrothermal circulation at fast-spreading ridges

Hydrothermal flow at oceanic spreading centres accounts for about ten per cent of all heat flux in the oceans and controls the thermal structure of young oceanic plates. It also influences ocean and crustal chemistry, provides a basis for chemosynthetic ecosystems, and has formed massive sulphide ore deposits throughout Earth’s history. Despite this, how and under what conditions heat is extracted, in particular from the lower crust, remains largely unclear. Here we present high-resolution, whole-crust, two- and three-dimensional simulations of hydrothermal flow beneath fast-spreading ridges that predict the existence of two interacting flow components, controlled by different physical mechanisms, that merge above the melt lens to feed ridge-centred vent sites. Shallow on-axis flow structures develop owing to the thermodynamic properties of water, whereas deeper off-axis flow is strongly shaped by crustal permeability, particularly the brittle–ductile transition. About 60 per cent of the discharging fluid mass is replenished on-axis by warm (up to 300 degrees Celsius) recharge flow surrounding the hot thermal plumes, and the remaining 40 per cent or so occurs as colder and broader recharge up to several kilometres away from the axis that feeds hot (500–700 degrees Celsius) deep-rooted off-axis flow towards the ridge. Despite its lower contribution to the total mass flux, this deep off-axis flow carries about 70 per cent of the thermal energy released at the ridge axis. This combination of two flow components explains the seismically determined thermal structure of the crust and reconciles previously incompatible models favouring either shallower on-axis or deeper off-axis hydrothermal circulation.

Sea level fall during glaciation stabilized atmospheric CO2 by enhanced volcanic degassing

Paleo-climate records and geodynamic modelling indicate the existence of complex interactions between glacial sea level changes, volcanic degassing and atmospheric CO2, which may have modulated the climate system’s descent into the last ice age. Between ∼85 and 70 kyr ago, during an interval of decreasing axial tilt, the orbital component in global temperature records gradually declined, while atmospheric CO2, instead of continuing its long-term correlation with Antarctic temperature, remained relatively stable. Here, based on novel global geodynamic models and the joint interpretation of paleo-proxy data as well as biogeochemical simulations, we show that a sea level fall in this interval caused enhanced pressure-release melting in the uppermost mantle, which may have induced a surge in magma and CO2 fluxes from mid-ocean ridges and oceanic hotspot volcanoes. Our results reveal a hitherto unrecognized negative feedback between glaciation and atmospheric CO2 predominantly controlled by marine volcanism on multi-millennial timescales of ∼5,000–15,000 years.

Modes of crustal accretion and their implications for hydrothermal circulation

Hydrothermal convection at mid-ocean ridges links the oceans long-term chemical evolution to solid earth processes, forms hydrothermal ore deposits, and sustains the unique chemosynthetic vent fauna. Yet the depth extent of hydrothermal cooling and the inseparably connected question of how the lower crust accretes remain poorly constrained. Here based on coupled models of crustal accretion and hydrothermal circulation, we provide new insights into which modes of lower crust formation and hydrothermal cooling are thermally viable and most consistent with observations at fast-spreading ridges. We integrate numerical models with observations of melt lens depth, thermal structure, and melt fraction. Models matching all these observations always require a deep crustal-scale hydrothermal flow component and less than 50% of the lower crust crystallizing in situ.