Geochemical constraints on supercritical fluids in geothermal systems

Abstract Supercritical fluids with temperatures of ~400–500 °C have been reported from several active geothermal fields worldwide. Although the utilization of such fluids may multiply power production from new and already exploited geothermal systems, the fluid origin and chemical controls on their composition remain unclear. We performed flow-through high-temperature (400–420 °C) experiments at 34–69 bar to study the chemical and mineralogical changes associated with supercritical fluid formation upon boiling of subcritical geothermal fluids of varying chemical composition. Based on geochemical modeling and laboratory results, we propose that an important mechanism of supercritical fluid formation is conductive heating and boiling of subcritical geothermal groundwater by a magmatic intrusion. Such supercritical fluids will display low concentrations of mineral-forming elements (Si, Na, K, Ca, Mg, Al), with their concentrations being controlled by the solubility of salts, oxides, and aluminum silicates in high-temperature (>400 °C) and low-density (ρ

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research

• Publication date

  2020-04-01

• Fields of study

  Environmental Science, Geology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2020.106824
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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