Muddy Waters: Deep-seated fluid flow processes, seismic faulting and mud volcanism in a mature collision zone

University Of California-San Diego Scripps Inst Of Oceanography, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

Geotechnical, geochemical, and pore pressure data will be collected during a German?led site survey of the Hellenic Subduction Zone in the eastern Mediterranean in support of IODP Proposal 555-Full 3. The aim of this survey and the IODP proposal is to understand the ?intermediate loops? of the subduction factory, which are several tens to hundreds of kilometers behind the toe. The Mediterranean Ridge is a mature zone of collision and provides easy drilling access to deep seated fluid flow processes in an accretionary prism and its buttress. This project will focus on fault-driven fluid release from the frontal and intermediate loop, which will be quantified in situ and calibrated by hydrothermal geotechnical experiments and geochemical analyses of the pore fluids. CAT flow meters will be deployed, in situ pore pressures measured, and gravity cores collected at the outcrops of the faults for geochemical analyses. The geotechnical and geochemical data will be incorporated into a numerical model of fluid flow between the accretionary complex and its hinterland. Broader impacts: The research will deepen our understanding of the geodynamic and physico-chemical processes along fault zones in the buttress region of an accretionary complex. The data and information from this project will support a highly ranked IODP Proposal and will strengthen international collaborations between IODP scientists. The PI is an early career scientist who will work with educators at the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in order to disseminate the information generated from this project to a broad non-academic audience.