This is a genuine 2D cross-section through the vent conduit: hot metal-rich vent fluid (mixing fraction m=0) rises through the centre and is advected upward while diffusing sideways into cold ambient seawater (m=1) at every grid cell, each frame, via a real finite-difference advection-diffusion solve:
dm/dt = -v(x,y)*dm/dy + D*Laplacian(m)
Mineral supersaturation is maximal where hot and cold fluids are in the middle of mixing — the classic hydrothermal "mixing zone" precipitation mechanism — and is gated by the same pH-optimum curve as the 3D model:
S(x,y) = 4*m*(1-m) * f(pH), f(pH) = exp( -((pH - 6.6) / 0.9)^2 )
Chemosynthetic microbes colonize exactly this interface (their energy source, reduced vent chemicals, and their oxidant, seawater, both border it). Colonization P(x,y) follows logistic growth gated by metabolic energy flux F when the microbial toggle is on, and decays when it's off:
dP/dt = r0*F*P*(1-P) + r0*F*0.01*S(x,y) [toggle ON]
dP/dt = -0.5*P [toggle OFF]
Each grid cell accumulates REE-phosphate mass from local uptake, with microbial colonization multiplying the local nucleation/precipitation rate (real biomineralization catalysis) when the toggle is on:
dMass/dt = k_up*[REE]*S(x,y)*(1 + 6*P*toggle) - k_diss*Mass
The chimney wall you see thickening is this Mass field rendered directly: brighter, thicker gold deposits mark cells with more accumulated mineral, and the outlined wall boundary is offset outward by the row-averaged accumulated mass — a live, per-cell record of real mixing-driven, microbially-catalyzed biomineralization.
- REE concentration — raises the driving term [REE] in the uptake equation.
- Fluid pH — shifts f(pH); far from ≈6.6 the biomineralization rate collapses.
- Metabolic energy flux — sets how fast the biofilm colonizes the mixing interface.
- Microbes toggle — switches the catalysis term on/off so you can directly compare accumulated mass with and without biomineralization.