Buoyant currents arrested by convective dissolution
When carbon dioxide (CO[subscript 2]) dissolves into water, the density of water increases. This seemingly insubstantial phenomenon has profound implications for geologic carbon sequestration. Here we show, by means of laboratory experiments with analog fluids, that the up-slope migration of a buoya...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/89480 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2332 |
| _version_ | 1811074287005597696 |
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| author | MacMinn, Christopher W. Juanes, Ruben |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering MacMinn, Christopher W. Juanes, Ruben |
| author_sort | MacMinn, Christopher W. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | When carbon dioxide (CO[subscript 2]) dissolves into water, the density of water increases. This seemingly insubstantial phenomenon has profound implications for geologic carbon sequestration. Here we show, by means of laboratory experiments with analog fluids, that the up-slope migration of a buoyant current of CO[subscript 2] is arrested by the convective dissolution that ensues from a fingering instability at the moving CO[subscript 2]-groundwater interface. We consider the effectiveness of convective dissolution as a large-scale trapping mechanism in sloping aquifers, and we show that a small amount of slope is beneficial compared to the horizontal case. We study the development and coarsening of the fingering instability along the migrating current and predict the maximum migration distance of the current with a simple sharp-interface model. We show that convective dissolution exerts a powerful control on CO[subscript 2] plume dynamics and, as a result, on the potential of geologic carbon sequestration. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:46:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/89480 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:46:40Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/894802022-09-26T13:37:42Z Buoyant currents arrested by convective dissolution MacMinn, Christopher W. Juanes, Ruben Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering MacMinn, Christopher W. Juanes, Ruben When carbon dioxide (CO[subscript 2]) dissolves into water, the density of water increases. This seemingly insubstantial phenomenon has profound implications for geologic carbon sequestration. Here we show, by means of laboratory experiments with analog fluids, that the up-slope migration of a buoyant current of CO[subscript 2] is arrested by the convective dissolution that ensues from a fingering instability at the moving CO[subscript 2]-groundwater interface. We consider the effectiveness of convective dissolution as a large-scale trapping mechanism in sloping aquifers, and we show that a small amount of slope is beneficial compared to the horizontal case. We study the development and coarsening of the fingering instability along the migrating current and predict the maximum migration distance of the current with a simple sharp-interface model. We show that convective dissolution exerts a powerful control on CO[subscript 2] plume dynamics and, as a result, on the potential of geologic carbon sequestration. United States. Dept. of Energy (Grant DE-SC0003907) United States. Dept. of Energy (Grant DE-FE0002041) Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability Yale Climate and Energy Institute (Postdoctoral Fellowship) 2014-09-12T18:48:03Z 2014-09-12T18:48:03Z 2013-05 2013-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 00948276 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/89480 MacMinn, Christopher W., and Ruben Juanes. “Buoyant Currents Arrested by Convective Dissolution.” Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, no. 10 (May 28, 2013): 2017–2022. © 2013 American Geophysical Union https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2332 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/grl.50473 Geophysical Research Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Geophysical Union (AGU) MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | MacMinn, Christopher W. Juanes, Ruben Buoyant currents arrested by convective dissolution |
| title | Buoyant currents arrested by convective dissolution |
| title_full | Buoyant currents arrested by convective dissolution |
| title_fullStr | Buoyant currents arrested by convective dissolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Buoyant currents arrested by convective dissolution |
| title_short | Buoyant currents arrested by convective dissolution |
| title_sort | buoyant currents arrested by convective dissolution |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/89480 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2332 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT macminnchristopherw buoyantcurrentsarrestedbyconvectivedissolution AT juanesruben buoyantcurrentsarrestedbyconvectivedissolution |