The initial
rise of a hydrothermal plume from a line segment source--results from
a three-dimensional numerical model
Lavelle,
J.W.
Geophysical Research Letters, 22(2), 159-162 (1995)
Abstract:
Recent measurements
of large water column plumes in association with seismic activity and
evidence of a fissure release of magma on the sea floor at the CoAxial
Segment, northern Juan de Fuca Ridge, initiate questions about the response
of the benthic ocean to large and sudden line discharges of heat. Here
these issues are investigated using a three-dimensional non-hydrostatic
hydrodynamical model. The model treats the case of a starting plume from
a finite-length, narrow line source of heat ascending into a rotating
environment stratified in temperature and salinity. The developing water
column plume is studied over an initial time period of approximately f-1,
where f is the Coriolis frequency. Midway into this interval the
plume attains its maximum rise height of ~900 m, for given buoyancy flux
and stratification conditions. Thereafter, the plume spreads laterally
and the effects of the earth's rotation come into evidence. Outward flow
at 400-900 m above bottom is primarily transverse to the line source,
quickly making the plume at those heights more circular than line-like.
|