Heat and mass transfer in a thermochemical plume under an oceanic plate far from the mid-ocean ridge axis

Abstract

Heat and mass transfer processes in the conduit of a thermochemical plume located beneath an oceanic plate far from a mid-ocean ridge (MOR) proceed under conditions of horizontal convective flows penetrating the plume conduit. In the region of a mantle flow approaching the plume conduit (in the frontal part of the conduit), the mantle material heats and melts. The melt moves through the plume conduit at the average velocity of flow v and is crystallized on the opposite side of the conduit. The heat and the chemical dope transferred by the conduit to the mantle flow are carried away by crystallized mantle material at the velocity v. The main equations of heat and mass transfer are obtained for a thermochemical plume interacting with a horizontal convective mantle flow. The joint multiparameter problem of heat and mass transfer is solved for a thermochemical plume located far from an MOR axis. The dope concentration at the base of the plume is found as a function of the Lewis number. The Lewis numbers and, accordingly, the diffusion coefficients of the chemical dope in the plume conduit far from the MOR axis are determined.