The role of capillarity is potentially important for determining heat transfer in hydrothermal regions. Capillarity allows mixing of phases in liquid/vapor systems and results in enhanced two-phase convection. Comparisons involving a numerical model with capillarity and analytical models without indicate that heat transfer can be enhanced by about an order of magnitude. Whether capillarity can be important for a particular hydrothermal region will depend on the nature of mineral precipitation as well as pore and fracture size distributions. |