TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kaiser, Björn Onno
A1  - Cacace, Mauro
A1  - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena
T1  - 3D coupled fluid and heat transport simulations of the Northeast German Basin and their sensitivity to the spatial discretization - different sensitivities for different mechanisms of heat transport
JF  - Environmental earth sciences
N2  - Based on a numerical model of the Northeast German Basin (NEGB), we investigate the sensitivity of the calculated thermal field as resulting from heat conduction, forced and free convection in response to consecutive horizontal and vertical mesh refinements. Our results suggest that computational findings are more sensitive to consecutive horizontal mesh refinements than to changes in the vertical resolution. In addition, the degree of mesh sensitivity depends strongly on the type of the process being investigated, whether heat conduction, forced convection or free thermal convection represents the active heat driver. In this regard, heat conduction exhibits to be relative robust to imposed changes in the spatial discretization. A systematic mesh sensitivity is observed in areas where forced convection promotes an effective role in shorten the background conductive thermal field. In contrast, free thermal convection is to be regarded as the most sensitive heat transport process as demonstrated by non-systematic changes in the temperature field with respect to imposed changes in the model resolution.
KW  - Mesh convergence
KW  - Conduction
KW  - Advection
KW  - Convection
KW  - Thermal field
KW  - Northeast German Basin
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2249-7
SN  - 1866-6280
SN  - 1866-6299
VL  - 70
IS  - 8
SP  - 3643
EP  - 3659
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kaiser, Björn Onno
A1  - Cacace, Mauro
A1  - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena
T1  - Quaternary channels within the Northeast German Basin and their relevance on double diffusive convective transport processes -  constraints from 3-D thermohaline numerical simulations
JF  - Geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems
N2  - The internal geological structure of the Northeast German Basin (NEGB) is affected by intense salt diapirism and by the presence of several stratified aquifer complexes of regional relevance. The shallow Quaternary to late Tertiary freshwater aquifer is separated from the underlying Mesozoic saline aquifers by an embedded Tertiary clay enriched aquitard (Rupelian Aquitard). An important feature of this aquitard is that hydraulic connections between the upper and lower aquifers do exist in areas where the Rupelian Aquitard is missing (hydrogeological windows). Three-dimensional thermohaline numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the effects of such hydrogeological windows in the Rupelian Aquitard on the resulting groundwater, temperature, and salinity distributions. Numerical results suggest that hydrogeological windows act as preferential domains of hydraulic interconnectivity between the different aquifers at depth and enable vigorous heat and mass transport which causes a mixing of warm and saline groundwater with cold and less saline groundwater within both aquifers. In areas where the Rupelian Aquitard confines the Mesozoic aquifer, dissolved solutes from major salt structures are transported laterally giving rise to plumes of variable salinity content ranging from few hundreds of meters to several tens of kilometers. Furthermore, destabilizing thermal buoyancy forces may overwhelm counteracting stabilizing salinity induced forces offside of salt domes. This may result in buoyant upward groundwater flow transporting heat and mass to shallower levels within the same Mesozoic Aquifer.
KW  - double diffusive convection
KW  - thermohaline processes
KW  - numerical simulations
KW  - salt structures
KW  - Northeast German Basin
KW  - quarternary channels
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ggge.20192
SN  - 1525-2027
VL  - 14
IS  - 8
SP  - 3156
EP  - 3175
PB  - American Geophysical Union
CY  - Washington
ER  -