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Smith-Johnsen et al. (The Cryosphere, 14, 841–854, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-841-2020, 2020) model the effect of a potential hotspot on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS). They argue that a heat flux of at least 970 mW m−2 is required to have initiated or to control NEGIS. Such an exceptionally high heat flux would be unique in the world and is incompatible with known geological processes that can raise the heat flux. Fast flow at NEGIS must thus be possible without the extraordinary melt rates invoked in Smith-Johnsen et al. (2020).

Intermittent fluid pulses in the Earth's crust can explain a variety of geological phenomena, for instance the occurrence of hydraulic breccia. Fluid transport in the crust is usually modeled as continuous Darcian flow, ignoring that sufficient fluid overpressure can cause hydraulic fractures as fluid pathways with very dynamic behavior. Resulting hydraulic fracture networks are largely self-organized: opening and healing of hydraulic fractures depends on local fluid pressure, which is, in turn, largely controlled by the fracture network. We develop a crustal-scale 2D computer model designed to simulate this process. To focus on the dynamics of the process we chose a setup as simple as possible. Control factors are constant overpressure at a basal fluid source and a constant “viscous” parameter controlling fracture-healing. Our results indicate that at large healing rates hydraulic fractures are mobile, transporting fluid in intermittent pulses to the surface and displaying a 1/fα behavior. Low healing rates result in stable networks and constant flow. The efficiency of the fluid transport is independent from the closure dynamics of veins or fractures. More important than preexisting fracture networks is the distribution of fluid pressure. A key requirement for dynamic fracture networks is the presence of a fluid pressure gradient.

International audience; This article introduces the software Melange, a 3D lattice-particle hybrid model. The software was specifically designed in order to simulate ductile visco-elasto-plastic deformation and can be used to study tectonic processes in the lithosphere from the micro to the macro scale. Melange is under an open source license. The code takes both relevant yield mechanisms for the deformation of lithospheric material into account: dynamic brittle failure and ductile creep, where ductile creep is modeled as viscoelasticity. The software considers effects of the local geology, of the inherent disorder of geomaterials, of rheological layering of the lithosphere and applies repulsion when the material fractures. Driving forces are the externally applied strain and the gravitational load. Melange applies an elastically isotropic regular 3D lattice with HCP geometry and next-nearest neighbor interactions. Young's modulus, viscosity, material density and system size can be freely chosen. Poisson's ratio is restricted to values

The general aim of the project is the examination of microstructures that develop under HP conditions in computer experiments. Starting point is an interest in the dynamics of HP phase transitions, as for instance the probably catastrophic phase-change event of olivine to spinel in the upper mantle. This is either explained by large overpressure or failure during the development of micro-structures during the growth of the spinel phase. Experimental results on this subject are rare, and do not lead by themselves to a deeper insight into the complicated stress/strain/volumechange/ micro-crack relationships of the transition. We developed a central force spring model, where particles can undergo a phase change using parameters of olivine and spinel. The algorithm is capable of simulating the local growth of the mentioned phases on the basis of direction-dependant rate laws. In the current context newtonian viscosity is added to the previously solely elastic system, since under HP/HT conditions the viscous flow within the material will have a large influence on the distribution of elastic energies, which in turn have an important influence on the driving force of the transition. Thus we are dealing with a visco-elastic system, which will be subjected to timedependant strain., conference