Thermohaline convection in flowing groundwater

Geothermal activity creates destabilising temperature gradients which are significant in some aquifers. Usually, in such aquifers stabilising salinity gradients also exist. The combination of temperature and salinity distribution in the aquifer may induce various types of hydrodynamic instabilities which were identified in a previous article. The present article concerns the effect of anisotropic characteristics of the hydrodynamic dispersion on the growth of instabilities in the aquifer. Three different mechanisms may lead to instability of the flow field: (a) buoyancy forces may induce convection currents; if the difference between the convection velocity of salt, due to the hydraulic gradients, and that of heat is negligible, then this mechanism is generally most effective in planes parallel to the hydraulic velocity of the fluid (velocity due to the hydraulic gradient); (b) the difference between heat and salt effective diffusivities may lead to overstability; this mechanism is most effective in planes perpendicular to the hydraulic velocity; (c) the difference between the convection velocity of salt and that of heat may induce oscillations which are most effective in planes parallel to the hydraulic velocity. The growth of instabilities in an aquifer of unlimited length is different from their growth in an aquifer of limited length. In the latter thermohaline convection develops in planes perpendicular to the hydraulic velocity, whereas in the former it develops in planes forming an angle θ with the hydraulic gradient. The development of convection cells in the flow field is identified by numerical experiments. These experiments identify the convection cell length and the angle formed between the thermohaline convection plane and the hydraulic gradient.