Hydrothermal heat flow near the Main Central Thrust, central Nepal Himalaya

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

3

Scientific paper

In central Nepal hot springs are common in a broad zone where deeply incised river gorges cross the MCT along steep stream reaches. The chemistry of the hydrothermal fluids is distinct from that of the rivers, enabling the use of chemical mass balance to estimate the hydrothermal flux. Spring exit temperatures are 25-70 °C. We combine mass balance estimates of spring flux with observed T to estimate hydrothermal power dissipation of springs at the surface of 500 MW across the Narayani basin. Estimates of reservoir T and a simple conductive cooling model indicate an additional 1260 MW is transferred to the uppermost crust by fluid flow, for a total heat transfer of 1760 ± 953 MW. Fluid inclusions from post-ductile quartz veins yield T = 301 ± 6 °C, P = 1056 ± 110 bars, and imply a geothermal gradient 75 ± 7.8 °C km- 1. Simple models of thermal balance suggest that hydrothermal circulation is a major mechanism of heat loss from this region of steep geothermal gradient. A 1-D model of rock advection and radiogenic heating indicates that coupled erosion-rock uplift is the major source for heat in the upper crust, and is consistent with the observed magnitude of hydrothermal heat transfer. On a more local scale, a simple porous media flow model appears to predict observed T-depth relationships in the zone of active meteoric fluid flow, and implies T ≈ 100 °C at depths only on the order of 100 m. These very shallow isotherms have the potential to influence low T thermochronometers.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Hydrothermal heat flow near the Main Central Thrust, central Nepal Himalaya does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Hydrothermal heat flow near the Main Central Thrust, central Nepal Himalaya, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Hydrothermal heat flow near the Main Central Thrust, central Nepal Himalaya will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-821358

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.