Geothermal energy

The potential of a geothermal area is primarily dependent on volume and temperature of the reservoir and adequacy of fluid supply. Inadequate fluid supply may be a more common limiting factor than inadequate heat supply, for heat stored in the upper 10,000 ft of many hot spring systems is 1,000 to 10,000 times their annual natural heat flow. Except in very porous reservoirs, most of this heat is stored in rocks rather than in pore fluids. Geothermal fields can be classified as hot spring systems or as deep insulated reservoirs with little surface expression; gradations also exist. Hot spring systems have high near-surface permeability, at least locally on faults and fractures, permitting fluids to escape at high rates. Owing to vigorous circulation and escaping fluids and heat, near-surface temperatures are high, but temperatures deep in the system are lower than would prevail with inhibited escape. Deep reservoirs with little surface expression require permeable reservoir rocks capped by insulating rocks of low permeability. Larderello, Italy, and Salton Sea, California, have slight leakage, but others may have no leakage. Liquid water, which can be at temperatures far above 100° C because of existing pressures, is generally the dominant fluid. Steam can form by boiling as hot water rises to levels of lower pressure. However, in several explored systems the heat supply is so high and rate of discharge of water so low that steam exists even deep in the system. Dry steam areas are probably rare. About 30 areas in the United States have been explored for geothermal energy, but dry steam has been proved only at « The Geysers ». Extensive utilisation of geothermal energy must therefore depend largely upon steam « flashed » from hot water with decrease in pressure. Problems that confront broad utilisation of geothermal energy include: 1) discovery of reservoirs with adequate supply of energy and natural fluids; 2) deposition of CaCO; or SiO₂; 3) chemical corrosion; 4) objectionable chemicals in some effluents; and 5) inapplicability of existing public laws. The optimum environment for a geothermal reservoir includes:

1. 1.
   Potent source of heat, such as a magma chamber. A depth of at least two miles provides enough pressure to insure water of high temperature; 5 miles may be too deep for effective transfer of heat to circulating water. Such heat sources are most likely to occur in regions of late Cenozoic volcanism.     
   
   

The linear relation between temperatures based on the silica content of groundwater and regional heat flow: A new heat flow map of the United States

Application of the silica geothermometer to over 70,000 non-thermal groundwaters from the United States has shown that there is a correlation between the average silica geotemperatures for a region (T SiO₂ in °C) and the known regional heat flow (q in mW m^?2) of the form: 1 $$TSiO_2 = mq + b$$ wherem andb are constants determined to be 0.67°C m² mW^?1 and 13.2°C respectively. The physical significance of ‘b’ is the mean annual air temperature. The slope ‘m’ is related to the minimum average depth to which the groundwaters may circulate. This minimum depth is estimated to be between 1.4 and 2.0 km depending on the rock type. A preliminary heat flow map based on equation (1) is presented using theT SiO₂ for new estimates of regional heat flow where conventional data are lacking. Anomalously high localT SiO₂ values indicate potential geothermal areas.     

Gases and water isotopes in a geochemical section across the Larderello,Italy, geothermal field

Steam samples from six wells (Colombaia, Pineta, Larderello 57, Larderello 155, Gabbro 6, and Gabbro 1) in a south to north section across the Larderello geothermal field have been analyzed for inorganic and hydrocarbon gases and for oxygen-18 and deuterium of steam. The wells generally decrease in depth and increase in age toward the south. The steam samples are generally characterized by

1. Total gas contents increasing south to north from 0.003 to 0.05 mole fraction;
2. Constant CO₂ (95±2 percent); near constant H₂S (1.6±0.8), N₂ (1.2±0.8), H₂ (2±1), CH₄ (1.2±1), and no O₂ in the dry gas;
3. Presence of numerous, straight chain and branched C₂ to C₆ hydrocarbons plus benzene in amounts independent of CH₄ contents with highest concentrations in the deeper wells;
4. Oxygen-18 contents of steam increasing south to north from ?5.0‰ to ?0.4‰ with little change in deuterium (?42±2‰).

These observations are interpreted as showing:

1. Decreasing gas contents with amount of production because the proportion of steam boiled from liquid water increases with production;
2. Synthesis of CH₄ from H₂ and CO₂ with CO₂ and H₂ produced by thermal metamorphism and rock-water reactions;
3. Extraction of C₂ to C₆ hydrocarbons from rock organic matter;
4. Either oxygen isotope exchange followed by distillation of steam from the north toward the south (2 plates at ～220°C) or mixture of deeper more-exchange waters from the north with shallow, less-exchanged recharging waters from the south.

     

The Beni-Ilmane (North-Central Algeria) Earthquake Sequence of May 2010

Starting on 14 May 2010 and lasting several months, the village of Beni-Ilmane (Msila District, North-Central Algeria) and its surroundings were struck by an important seismic crisis marked by three successive moderate shocks (5.0 ≤ M _d ≤ 5.2). This sequence of events caused severe damage in the Beni-Ilmane village and in the epicentral area. The poor quality of masonry construction and the cumulative effects of the large number of aftershock events played a key role in the destruction. To follow this earthquake sequence, 11 temporary seismic stations, in addition to the permanent stations of the Algerian seismic network, were deployed in the region. A representative set of well located aftershocks in the period of maximum activity (lasting 18 days) were selected. The horizontal distribution of the aftershocks shows two main earthquake clusters located near Beni-Ilmane village, one cluster oriented E–W and the other oriented NNE–SSW, crossing the first cluster at its eastern tip. The aftershocks distribution suggests that the three main shocks ruptured two distinct and adjacent fault segments of about 8 km length. The focal mechanisms of the first and third events, located in the NNE–SSW cluster, show near-vertical left-lateral strike-slip fault planes. In the second cluster, oriented E–W, focal mechanisms show a high-angle reverse fault. A field survey, initiated immediately after the first main shock, identified surface fissures generated by the three largest events in the sequence. The fissures, concentrated in a narrow area at the western termination of the NE–SW Jebel Choukchot anticline (location of Beni-Ilmane village), showed several orientations which were mainly related to gravity instabilities. The 2010 Beni-Ilmane earthquake sequence, located in the Bibans–Hodna Mountains transition zone, demonstrates that the Tellian Atlas–High Plateaus border region is an active seismic zone marked by moderate and possibly strong earthquakes; thus, a reevaluation of the seismic hazard in the region is needed.     

A statistical model for vesuvius and its volcanological implications

The last 300 years of Vesuvius history are reconstructed as a chronological succession of 4 phenomenological states: i) repose, ii) persistent activity, iii) intermediate eruption and iv) final eruption. It turns out that the times of permanence in each state are distributed according to the same exponential law. Vesuvius activity is then described by a Markov chain of these 4 states, with transition probabilities determined from the previous phenomenological analysis. The model reproduces the Vesuvius activity between 1694 and 1872 and possibly also in the 1872–1944 period. It turns out that, at least between 1694 and 1872, the volcano was behaving like a quasistationary system with 4 equilibrium states, perturbed by a stochastic noise responsible for occasional transitions from an equilibrium state to another. Major physical or structural changes of the volcanic system around 1872 and possibly in the whole subsequent period, are clearly shown by the statistical analysis.     

Melting of Mg2GeO4 under pressure

Melting point of germanate forsterite, Mg₂GeO₄, was raised by compression at the rate of 30°C/GPa. The triple point, at which three phases of olivine- and spinel-type solids and liquid coexisted, was fixed at 1950°C and 3.5GPa. Wen these results are combined with the thermodynamical data of forsterite, Mg₂SiO₄, it is estimated that the triple point of forsterite lies in a region ranging from 2700° to 3000°C in temperature and from 20 to 30GPa in pressure.     

The self-sealing geothermal field

A geothermal field producing dry steam or high temperature water is a trap for convection currents generated in an aquifer of high permeability and of sufficient thickness by a deep heat source. A basic implication of this concept is, that a geothermal field requires a cap-rock of more or less impermeable rocks above the producing aquifer. In Larderello, Monte Amiata, and Salton Sea geothermal fields, a clearly reconnaissable tight formation overlies the producing zone and limits the upward movements of the convection currents. In other fields,i.e. The Geysers (California), Wairakei and Waiotapu (New Zealand) we do not know a geologically well defined cap-rock formation, presenting a large difference in permeability in comparison with the reservoir formation. The hot water circulating in a hydrothermal system without a cap-rock can produce deposits and rock alteration in proper places along the flow paths. The tracture and pore filling and any other permeability reducing factors increase resistance to the water circulation: those processes can originate an effective cap-rock. By such processes a hydrothermal system can become a self-sealed geothermal field. The silica deposition is probably the main self-sealing process. In fact, 1) silica is very common. 2) it is available with almost no limitation, 3) its deposition is strictly related to temperature changes, and 4) it is likely to produce very effective patterns of deposition. Where an unlimited CO₂ supply is available at depth, the calcium carbonate deposition appears to be a noticeable sealing process, which is controlled by pressure, at relatively shallow depth. In other cases CaCO₃ precipitation should not be an important factor in the self-sealing of geothermal fields. Argillization appears to be an important shallow process. It is especially effective in the acid environment of many thermal shows, thus determining their migration and/or extinction. According to our analysis and to present evidence those three self-sealing processes are the most important ones. In The Geysers Field, the wells penetrated the same formation, the Franciscan graywackes, from top to bottom. The Franciscan Formation has a very low primary permeability; secondary or fissure permeability is at the contrary very high. It is evident that there is no recognizable cap-rock in the accepted sense of petroleum geology. The wells produce superheated steam; the producing zone begins at 300 m depth or so; the quantity of steam increases with the thickness of the producing zone penetrated by the holes. Beginning in 1964, the wells have been drilled with air as circulating medium. No steam or water has been observed in the top few hundreds meters drilled: we can safely conclude that the graywackes are impervious in the upper section of the holes. Cores and cuttings show frequent fissures filled with silica in different mineral forms and hydrothermally altered rocks are common. In the Geysers area, hot springs, steam vents, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide fumaroles are numerous, and wide zones of rocks, altered by past hydrothermal activity, are prominent features. As usual in many hyperthermal areas, also in The Geysers the manifestations of surface heat change frequently in place, in size, and in fluids discharge. The filling of rock fissures by mineral deposition seems the simplest and most natural explanation of the place changes of the individual springs. The active faults continually generate new fissures, limit the sealing action, and account for the persistent surface thermal activity of the area. The composition of the waters from the hot springs at The Geysers has been re-considered, in comparison with both surface waters and natural steam. The hot springs mainly originate by natural steam condensation, as Allen and Day stated in 1927. This conclusion is now strenghtened and extended: the perched water table producing hot springs at The Geysers is purely condensed steam. Practically all its characteristics can be explained by this condition alone. Separation from other shallow water bodies is extremely sharp. Let us sumarize: the impermeability of the upper section of the holes is demonstrated by the lack of fluids in the Sulphur Bank area, whereas the geochemistry of the hot springs compared with shallow waters indicates that similar conditions occur in the Geysers and Little Geysers areas. Furthermore, silica and other fissure-filling processes occur all over the region, as well as argillization of graywackes. We conclude that:

1. a)
   a cap-rock exists in The Geysers Field; this fact readily explains the production of dry steam;     
   
   

The somma-vesuvius magma chamber: a petrological and volcanological approach

The volcanic history of Somma-Vesuvius indicates that salic products compatible with an origin by fractionation within a shallow magma chamber have been repeatedly erupted («Plinian» pumice deposits). The last two of these eruptions, (79 A.D. and 3500 B.P.) were carefully studied. Interaction with calcareous country rocks had limited importance, and all data indicate that differentiated magmas were produced by crystal-liquid fractionation within the undersaturated part of petrogeny’s residua system at about 1 kb water pressure. The solid-liquid trend indicates that the derivative magmas originated by fractionation of slightly but significantly different parental liquids. Some lavas of appropriate composition were selected as parental liquids to compute the entity of the fractionation. Results suggest that in both bases a fractionation of about 70 weight % was needed to produce liquids with the composition of the pumice. The combination of all data indicates that the two Plinian eruptions were fed by a magma chamber (3–4 km deep) having a volume of approx. 2.0–2.5 km³. The temperature of the magma that initially entered the chamber was about 1100°C, whereas the temperature of the residual liquids erupted was Plinian pumice was 800° and 850°C respectively. There is no evidence that such a magma chamber existed at Vesuvius after the 79 A.D. eruption. These results have relevant practical implications for volcanic hazard and monitoring and for geothermal energy.     

Hydrothermal melting of some New Zealand greywackes and argillites

The temperatures at which melting begins of three New Zealand greywackes and two argillites were determined as a function of water pressure up to 3000 atmospheres. The purpose of these experiments was to provide data possibly relevant to the genesis of the North Island ignimbrites and for comparison with the experiments ofBowen andTuttle (1958) on the melting temperatures of granites and the ternary minimum system (NaAlSi₃O₈ — KAlSi₃O₈ — SiO₂ — H₂O). Powdered samples of the rocks were heated in unsealed silver tubes in cold seal bombs, the water pressure being measured on a Bourdon gauge and applied during heating. Temperature control was ± 5°C. Twelve days was the longest heating period, most being for 24 hours, which was sufficient for apparent reaction. At the end of an experiment, the pressure was released, and the sample quickly cooled by removal from the bomb. The samples were crushed and examined by X-ray diffraction and the petrographic microscope. The PT curve for the beginning of melting of the greywackes and argillites is very close toBowen andTuttle’s for granites and the ternary minimum to 1000 atmospheres water pressure. Above this pressure the greywackes melt at slightly higher temperatures than on the granite curve with the argillites a little higher still. These observations are similar to those reported for shales byWyllie andTuttle 1960, 1961, for greywackes byWinkler andvon Platen 1961, and pelitic sediments byWyart andSabatier, 1959. The amount of anatectic melt increases rapidly above the temperature of initial melting and is inversely related to the quartz present in the greywackes. The partially melted products were often notably vesicular. Cordierite, mullite, hypersthene, scapolite and mica were identified in the X-ray diffractograms as coexisting with the melt. These experiments are in agreement with published work in showing that the quartz and alkali feldspars of granites, shales and arkosic sediments can in the presence of water react and begin to melt at 20–25 kilometres depth in the earth assuming a geothermal gradient of 30°C/km. The melt is granitic or granodioritic in composition.     

STANOVA: a smoothed-ANOVA-based model for spatio-temporal disease mapping

Spatio-temporal disease mapping can be viewed as a multivariate disease mapping problem with a given order of the geographic patterns to be studied. As a consequence, some of the techniques in multivariate literature could also be used to build spatio-temporal models. In this paper we propose using the smoothed ANOVA multivariate model for spatio-temporal problems. Under our approach the time trend for each geographic unit is modeled parametrically, projecting it on a preset orthogonal basis of functions (the contrasts in the smoothed ANOVA nomenclature), while the coefficients of these projections are considered to be spatially dependent random effects. Despite the parametric temporal nature of our proposal, we show with both simulated and real datasets that it may be as flexible as other spatio-temporal smoothing models proposed in the literature and may model spatio-temporal data with several sources of variability.     

Expressions for the Global Gravimetric Moho Modeling in Spectral Domain

We apply a newly developed numerical method to improve the Moho geometry by the implementation of gravity data. This method utilizes expressions for the gravimetric forward and inverse modeling derived in a frequency domain. Methods for a spectral analysis and synthesis of the gravity field and crust density structures are applied in the gravimetric forward modeling of the consolidated crust-stripped gravity disturbances, which have a maximum correlation with the (a priori) Moho model. These gravity disturbances are obtained from the Earth’s gravity disturbances after applying the topographic and stripping gravity corrections of major known anomalous crust density structures; in the absence of a global mantle model, mantle density heterogeneities are disregarded. The isostatic scheme applied is based on a complete compensation of the crust relative to the upper mantle density. The functional relation is established between the (unknown) Moho depths and the complete crust-stripped isostatic gravity disturbances, which according to the adopted isostatic scheme have (theoretically) a minimum correlation with the Moho geometry. The system of observation equations, which describes the relation between spherical functions of the isostatic gravity field and the Moho geometry, is defined by means of a linearized Fredholm integral equation of the first kind. The Moho depths are determined based on solving the gravimetric inverse problem. The regularization is applied to stabilize the ill-posed solution. This numerical procedure is utilized to determine the Moho depths globally. The gravimetric result is presented and compared with the seismic Moho model. Our gravimetric result has a relatively good agreement with the CRUST2.0 Moho model by means of the RMS of differences (of 3.5 km). However, the gravimetric solution has a systematic bias. We explain this bias between the gravimetric and seismic Moho models by the unmodelled mantle heterogeneities and uncertainties in the CRUST2.0 global crustal model.     

Geochemistry of the volcanics of central Mexico

The Tertiary and Recent volcanics of Mexico occur in two provinces. The Cordillera Province is made up of about 1700 m of ignimbrite sheets overlain and intercalated in the upper part by olivine basalt and basaltic andesite. The Rio Lerma Province extends transversely across Mexico and in the Valley of Mexico the lavas consist mainly of andesite and dacite, 68 % of those analysed having 62 | 4.7 % SiO₂. A total of 108 chemical analyses were made for the major elements, 90 of these including determinations of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Ba, Th and Pb for two areas, the Valley of Mexico in the Rio Lerma Province and the Guadalajara region which lies at the intersection of the two provinces. Computer constructions of normative components in the basalt tetrahedron and other projections support an origin of partial melting of tholeiitic to pyrolitic material for the production of andesite. The Guadalajara lavas have consistently higher K/SiO₂ and K/Rb ratios and lower Mg/SiO₂ ratio than the Valley of Mexico rocks suggesting generation at greater depth.     

Land–Water Boundary Treatment for a Tsunami Model With Dimensional Splitting

The Method of Splitting Tsunamis (MOST) model adapted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for tsunami forecasting operations is praised for its computational efficiency, associated with the use of splitting technique. It will be shown, however, that splitting the computations between \(x\) and \(y\) directions results in specific sensitivity to the treatment of land–water boundary. Slight modification to the reflective boundary condition in MOST caused an appreciable difference in the results. This is demonstrated with simulations of the Tohoku-2011 tsunami from the source earthquake to Monterey Bay, California, and in southeast Alaska, followed by comparison with tide gage records. In the first case, the better representation of later waves (reflected from the coasts) by the modified model in a Pacific-wide simulation resulted in twice as long match between simulated and observed tsunami time histories at Monterey gage. In the second case, the modified model was able to propagate the tsunami wave and approach gage records at locations within narrow channels (Juneau, Ketchikan), to where MOST had difficulty propagating the wave. The modification was extended to include inundation computation. The resulting inundation algorithm (Cliffs) has been tested with the complete set of NOAA-recommended benchmark problems focused on inundation. The solutions are compared to the MOST solutions obtained with the version of the MOST model benchmarked for the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program in 2011. In two tests, Cliffs and MOST results are very close, and in another two tests, the results are somewhat different. Very different regimes of generation/disposal of water by Cliffs and MOST inundation algorithms, which supposedly affected the benchmarking results, have been discussed.     

Explosive felsic volcanism on El Hierro (Canary Islands)

The Canary Islands consist of seven basaltic shield volcanoes whose submerged portion is much more voluminous than the subaerial part of each island. Like so many other volcanic oceanic islands, the indicative deposits of explosive felsic volcanism are not a common feature on the Canary archipelago. Hitherto, they have only been documented from the central islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, which are the largest volcanic complexes of the islands. On the other Canary Islands, the presence of felsic rocks is mostly restricted to intrusions and a few lava flows, generally within the succession in the oldest parts of individual islands. In this paper, we present a detailed stratigraphic, lithological and sedimentological study of a significant felsic pumice deposit on the island of El Hierro, referred here as the Malpaso Member, which represents the only explosive episode of felsic volcanism found on the Canary Islands (outside of Gran Canaria and Tenerife). The products of the eruption indicate a single eruptive event and cover an area of about 15 km². This work provides a detailed stratigraphic and chronological framework for El Hierro, and four subunits are identified within the member on the basis of lithological and granulometric characteristics. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of an explosive eruption in a setting where the activity is typified by effusive basaltic events. Given the style and the spatial distribution of the Malpaso eruption and its products, a future event with similar characteristics could have a serious impact on the population, infrastructure and economy of the island of El Hierro.     

Calc-alkaline volcanic rocks from NW Sardinia: Evaluation of a fractional crystallization model

The volcanic centre of Monte Seda Oro, N. W. Sardinia, representative of a Cenozoic calc-alkaline andesitic suite of rocks is composed of a variety of rocks ranging from high alumina basalts to dacites. The minerals of basaltic, andesitic and dacitic rocks show only limited variation in chemical composition. The geochemical data suggest that the various rock-types are related by a crystal-liquid fractionation. Least-squate numerical calculations, using major element data, support the derivation of andesites with SiO₃ content ranging from 53.8 to 59.0% from basalts having about 48.7% of SiO₂ by low pressure crystal fractionation of the phenocryst phases present in these rocks. However, the origin of dacites cannot be readily explained by this mechanism.     

The composition of basaltic lavas from Bayuda,Sudan and their place in the cainozoic volcanic history of north-east Africa

Six new analyses of young basaltic rocks from the Bayuda field show the predominant rock types to be strongly undersaturated basanites and nepheline trachybasalts. Both types are believed to represent magmas of deep-seated origin. Similar rocks are widely distributed in north-east Africa but mildly alkaline to tholeiitic basalts were erupted along the eastern margin of the continent in early and late Cainozoic times, whereas along the Tripoli-Tibesti zone to the west mildly alkaline basalts were probably confined to the early Tertiary. The Tripoli-Tibesti zone was one of uplift and strongly tensional tectonics in the late Mesozoic and early Cainozoic, and at this time may have been a line of potential lithospheric rifting, but a period of quiescence followed and resurgence of activity in the late Cainozoic produced weaker tensional structures and more strongly alkaline basic magmas. The region between these two main zones of activity was characterized throughout by intermittent alkaline volcanicity and weak tectonism. Neverthless, fracture zones which apparently controlled the volcanicity are beginning to be recognized in this area. It is argued that African volcanic activity is related to linear, rather than circumscribed, areas of mantle activity. Possible connections with epeirogenic movements within the Alpine orogenic belt appear to have been neglected in the debate on the causes of African igneous activity.     

Fractional crystallization trends in the system Mg2SiO4-CaAl2Si2O8-FeO-Fe2O3-SiO2 over the range of oxygen partial pressures of 10−11 to 10−0.7 atm

A brief report is made of current laboratory investigations on phase relations among olivine, pyroxene, anorthite, magnetite, tridymite, liquid and gas in the system Mg₂SiO₄-CaAl₂Si₂O₈-FeO-Fe₂O₂-SiO₂ over a wide range of oxygen partial pressures. Courses of fractional crystallization under various conditions of oxygen partial pressure are depicted using an anorthite saturation diagram. Starting with a basalt-like composition in the system, fractional crystallization at a moderate oxygen partial pressure (10 atm.) results in an andesite-like residual liquid of composition 55 SiO₂, 14 iron oxide, 6 MgO, 9 CaO, 16 Al₂O₃ at a temperature of 1155°C. With fractional crystallization in a closed system, the end liquid approaches the composition of 45 SiO₂, 38 iron oxide, 6 CaO and 11 Al₂O₃, at a temperature of 1050°C and oxygen partial pressure of about 10^?12 atm. The andesitic final liquid in this system would be expected to further differentiate toward dacitic and rhyolitic compositions if alkalies and water were present in the system. On the basis of these studies, the derivation of liquids of andesitic, dacitic or rhyolitic composition from primary basalts by fractional crystallization seems entirely possible if the oxygen partial pressure is maintained at a moderate or high level.