ALBERT

Description: An analytical solution to the equations describing the flow of a buoyant fluid released into a porous medium below a horizontal impermeable boundary is used to model the growth of CO2 accumulations beneath thin mudstone beds in the Utsira sand reservoir at Sleipner in the North Sea. Here supercritical CO2 has been injected at a rate of ab. 1 MT/yr since 1996 and imaged by time-lapse seismic data in 1999, 2001 and 2002. The CO2 rises as a narrow plume and is partially trapped by a number of thin mudstones before reaching the caprock to the reservoir. The radii of the individual layers of trapped CO2 increase as the square root of time since initiation as predicted by the modelling for constant input flux. However apparent negative initiation times for horizons low in the reservoir suggests that net input fluxes for these layers have decreased with time, most probably as the spreading layers have increased their leakage rates. Accumulation of CO2 in the layers higher in the reservoir was initiated up to 3 yr after injection started. Modelling of the thickness profiles across three of the higher layers suggests that their net input fluxes have increased with time. The observation that the central thicknesses of the deeper layers have remained approximately constant, or have slightly decreased since first imaged in 1999, is consistent with the model predictions that the central thickness is directly proportional to net input flux. However, estimates of the permeability of the reservoir from the rate of increase of the radii of the CO2 accumulations are an order of magnitude less than measured permeabilities on the reservoir sandstone. Permeabilities estimated from the modelling of layer thickness changes scatter in the same range. These discrepancies may arise from, 1) approximations in the model not being valid, 2) the measured permeabilities not being representative of the permeability for two-phase flow on the scale of the reservoir or, considered less likely, 3) that much less CO2 is being stored in the imaged CO2 accumulations than estimated from the seismic reflection profiles. The most probable cause of the discrepancy is that the relative permeability for the CO2 phase is significantly reduced at lower CO2 saturations.

Description: A wide-angle seismic experiment at the Atlantis II Fracture Zone, Southwest Indian Ridge, together with geochemical analyses of dredged basalt glass samples from a site conjugate to Ocean Drilling Program hole 735B has allowed determination of the thickness and the most likely lithological composition of the crust beneath hole 735B. The measured Na, composition of 3.3 +/- 0.1 corresponds to a melt thickness of 3 +/- 1 km, a result consistent with rare earth element inversions which indicate a melt thickness of between 1.5 and 4.5 km. The seismic crustal thickness to the north and south of the Atlantis Platform (on which hole 735B is located) is 4 +/- 1 km, and probably consists largely of magmatic material since the seismic and inferred melt thicknesses agree within experimental uncertainty. Beneath hole 735B itself. the Moho is at a depth of 5 +/- 1 km beneath the seafloor. The seismic model suggests that, on average. about 1 km of upper crust has been unroofed on the Atlantis Platform. However, allowing for the inferred local unroofing of 2 km of upper crust at 735B, the base of the magmatic crust beneath this location is probably about 2 km beneath the seafloor, and is underlain by a 2-3 km thick layer of serpentinised mantle peridotite. The P-wave velocity of 6.9 km/s for the serpentinised peridotite layer corresponds to a 35 +/- 10 vol% serpentine content. The Moho beneath hole 735B probably represents a serpentinisation front.

Description: An 18 million year record of the Ca isotopic composition (d44/42Ca) of planktonic foraminiferans from ODP site 925, in the Atlantic, on the Ceara Rise, provides the opportunity for critical analysis of Ca isotope-based reconstructions of the Ca cycle. ?44/42Ca in this record averages +0.37+/-0.05 (1 sigma SD) and ranges from +0.21‰ to +0.52‰. The record is a good match to previously published Neogene Ca isotope records based on foraminiferans, but is not similar to the record based on bulk carbonates, which has values that are as much as 0.25‰ lower. Bulk carbonate and planktonic foraminiferans from core tops differ slightly in their d44/42Ca (i.e., by 0.06+/-0.06‰ (n = 5)), while the difference between bulk carbonate and foraminiferan values further back in time is markedly larger, leaving open the question of the cause of the difference. Modeling the global Ca cycle from downcore variations in d44/42Ca by assuming fixed values for the isotopic composition of weathering inputs (d44/42Ca_w) and for isotope fractionation associated with the production of carbonate sediments (D_sed) results in unrealistically large variations in the total mass of Ca2+ in the oceans over the Neogene. Alternatively, variations of +/-0.05‰ in the Ca isotope composition of weathering inputs or in the extent of fractionation of Ca isotopes during calcareous sediment formation could entirely account for variations in the Ca isotopic composition of marine carbonates. Ca isotope fractionation during continental weathering, such as has been recently observed, could easily result in variations in d44/42Ca_w of a few tenths of permil. Likewise a difference in the fractionation factors associated with aragonite versus calcite formation could drive shifts in D_sed of tenths of permil with shifts in the relative output of calcite and aragonite from the ocean. Until better constraints on variations in d44/42Ca_w and D_sed have been established, modeling the Ca2+ content of seawater from Ca isotope curves should be approached cautiously.

Description: Hydrothermal circulation at oceanic spreading ridges causes sea water to penetrate to depths of 2 to 3 km in the oceanic crust where it is heated to ~400 °C before venting at spectacular 'black smokers'. These hydrothermal systems exert a strong influence on ocean chemistry (Edmond et al., 1979, doi:10.1016/0012-821X(79)90061-X), yet their structure, longevity and magnitude remain largely unresolved (Elderfield and Schultz., 1996, doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.24.1.191). The active Transatlantic Geotraverse (TAG) deposit, at 26° N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, is one of the largest, oldest and most intensively studied of the massive sulphide mounds that accumulate beneath black-smoker fields. Here we report ages of sulphides and anhydrites from the recently drilled (Humphris et al., 1995, doi:10.1038/377713a0) TAG substrate structures -determined from 234U-230Th systematics analysed by thermal ionization mass spectrometry. The new precise ages combined with existing data (Lalou et al., 1993, doi:10.1029/92JB01898; 1998, doi:10.2973/odp.proc.sr.158.214.1998) show that the oldest material (11,000 to 37,000 years old) forms a layer across the centre of the deposit with younger material (2,300–7,800 years old) both above and below. This stratigraphy confirms that much of the sulphide and anhydrite are precipitated within the mound by mixing of entrained sea water with hydrothermal fluid (James and Elderfield, 1996, doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1996)024〈1147:COOFFA〉2.3.CO;2). The age distribution is consistent with episodic activity of the hydrothermal system recurring at intervals of up to 2,000 years.