1. Understanding heat and groundwater flow through continental flood basalt provinces: insights gained from alternative models of permeability/depth relationships for the Columbia Plateau, USA.
- Author
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Burns, E. R., Williams, C. F., Ingebritsen, S. E., Voss, C. I., Spane, F. A., and DeAngelo, J.
- Subjects
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GROUNDWATER flow , *HEAT flow (Oceanography) , *BASALT , *PERMEABILITY , *AQUIFERS - Abstract
Heat-flow mapping of the western USA has identified an apparent low-heat-flow anomaly coincident with the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System, a thick sequence of basalt aquifers within the Columbia River Basalt Group ( CRBG). A heat and mass transport model ( SUTRA) was used to evaluate the potential impact of groundwater flow on heat flow along two different regional groundwater flow paths. Limited in situ permeability ( k) data from the CRBG are compatible with a steep permeability decrease (approximately 3.5 orders of magnitude) at 600-900 m depth and approximately 40°C. Numerical simulations incorporating this permeability decrease demonstrate that regional groundwater flow can explain lower-than-expected heat flow in these highly anisotropic ( kx/ kz ~ 104) continental flood basalts. Simulation results indicate that the abrupt reduction in permeability at approximately 600 m depth results in an equivalently abrupt transition from a shallow region where heat flow is affected by groundwater flow to a deeper region of conduction-dominated heat flow. Most existing heat-flow measurements within the CRBG are from shallower than 600 m depth or near regional groundwater discharge zones, so that heat-flow maps generated using these data are likely influenced by groundwater flow. Substantial k decreases at similar temperatures have also been observed in the volcanic rocks of the adjacent Cascade Range volcanic arc and at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, where they result from low-temperature hydrothermal alteration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
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