Geothermal systems driven by magmatic activity are multifaceted and complex systems that represent both a significant hazard and a potential opportunity for nearby populations.
In recent years, the presence of supercritical fluids (T > 400 °C) has for instance gain major attention as they offer significantly more energy potential than conventional geothermal operations. Due to high concentration in elements as Cl and S, the high-T fluids may also carry significant amounts of metals as Cu, Au, Mo, Pb or Se and (supercritical) geothermal production in volcanic systems thus has the potential to become a more sustainable method than traditional mining. Yet, the circulation of hot (100 °C < T < 900 °C) and generally acidic fluids also affects the surrounding rocks mineralogy, porosity, permeability, and mechanical stability, which can trigger seismicity or flank collapse of volcanoes, major hazards in populated and oceanic areas.
The development of numerical simulations for risk mitigation or future operations not only requires a better understanding of fluids, magmas and rocks properties in these complex systems, but also of new formalism adapted to supercritical or CO2/salt-rich conditions.
With this session, we wish to invite petrologists, geochemists, geophysicists, experimentalists and modelers to discuss the conditions of formation, circulation and release of (magmatic)-hydrothermal fluids in volcanic systems and how their interaction with magmas and surrounding rocks may affect the evolution of the geothermal system. Contributions on the properties of the high-T fluids, the extent and timescales of hydrothermal alteration in different settings, rock properties or the development of local to large-scale THMC models are all welcomed.