3D models of hydrothermal circulation through a network of seamounts
We use the Los Alamos National Lab code FEHM to simulate hydrothermal flow in oceanic crust, focused on sites offshore Costa Rica and New Zealand. The modeling provides constraints on hydraulic parameters and flow rates required to match heat flow measurements in these areas.
Physical and hydraulic parameter evolution of subducted sediments
In subduction zones, high porosity sediments on the oceanic plate undergo rapid compaction and eventual lithification, but direct sampling of the continuum that connects these states is limited to end members of shallow drilling and exhumed subduction complexes. Understanding the evolution of sediment physical properties and hydraulic parameters during subduction is critical, given the control these parameters exert on drainage and fluid pressure distribution through commensurate changes in permeability. Uniaxial and triaxial (shown here) deformation experiments are used to quantify the evolution of physical and hydraulic properties.
Probing a soaphole in Alberta immediately after it collapsed under me.
Soap holes in Alberta: "quick" sediment hazard for livestock and machinery: cousin to mud volcanoes
Little is known about the "plumbing" of these structures, and whether their formation is associated with existing permeable pathways (ie. Faults, geologic contacts) that translate pressures to the surface. Similar structures in submarine and terrestrial environments (mud volcanoes) are generally associated with compressional environments, where high fluid pressures mobilize a slurry of mud and associated methane to the ground surface. The soapholes identified in Alberta represent a likely analog for mud volcanoes, and an ideal opportunity to study their structure using electrical resistivity profiling over selected soapholes. This work will be performed in conjunction with efforts to monitor gas migration in selected locations, through an existing collaboration with Dr. Cathy Ryan at the University of Calgary.