Preliminary Results from a Gas Tracer Injection Experiment in the Upper Oceanic Crust on the Eastern Flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge
Abstract
We present the first results from a gas tracer injection experiment in the ocean crust on the eastern flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, in an area of vigorous hydrothermal circulation. A mixture of tracers was injected in Hole 1362B in 2010, during IODP Expedition 327, as part of a 24-hour pumping experiment. Fluid samples were subsequently collected from this hole and three additional holes (1026B, 1362A, and 1301A), located 300 to 500 m away. The array of holes is located on 3.5 M.y. old seafloor, and oriented N20°E, subparallel to the Endeavor Segment of Juan de Fuca Ridge, 100 km to the west. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) was injected at a concentration of 0.0192 mol/min, with fluid pumping rate of 6.7 L/s for 20.2 h, resulting in a mean concentration of 47.6 μM and 23.3 mol of SF6 being added to crustal fluids. Borehole fluid samples were collected in copper coils using osmotic pumps attached to the wellheads of several long-term, subseafloor observatories (CORKs). These samples were recovered from the seafloor using a remotely-operated vehicle in 2011 and 2013. Analyses of SF6 concentrations in samples recovered in 2011 indicate the first arrival of SF6 in Hole 1301A, 550 m south of the injection Hole 1362B, ~265 days after injection. This suggests that the most rapid lateral transport of gas (at the leading edge of the plume) occurred at ~2 m/day. Samples recovered in 2013 should provide a more complete breakthrough curve, allowing assessment of the mean lateral transport rate. Additional insights will come from analysis of metal salts and particle tracers injected contemporaneously with the SF6, the cross-hole pressure response to injection and a two-year fluid discharge experiment. Additional wellhead samples will be collected in Summer 2014, as will downhole osmosamplers deployed in perforated casing within the upper ocean crust in Holes 1362A and 1362B.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFMOS41C1834N
- Keywords:
-
- 3035 MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS Midocean ridge processes;
- 4262 OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL Ocean observing systems;
- 3021 MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS Marine hydrogeology;
- 4536 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL Hydrography and tracers