Permeability Changes Resulting from Quartz Precipitation and Dissolution around Upper Crustal Intrusions

Figure 4

Silica transport dynamics in a system with high host rock permeability (10⁻¹⁴ m²), a shallow intrusion emplacement depth, and intermediate host rock porosity (0.05). The temporal evolution of the system is divided into (a) incipient, (b) main, and (c) waning stages (see text). The initial boundary of the intrusion is shown in (a–c) with a dashed line. Quartz solubility, vertical fluid mass fluxes, and rates of quartz precipitation and silica dissolution close to the intrusion are shown in (d), (e), and (f), respectively. The blue and red lines in (a–d) show fluid pressure and temperature contours, respectively. The black lines in (a–f) show vapor volumetric saturation contours and with 0 denoting the boundaries of the boiling zone and 1 the supercritical zone. The blue lines in (e) represent liquid streamlines.