Fossil vs. Active Geothermal Systems: A Field and Laboratory Method to Disclose the Relationships between Geothermal Fluid Flow and Geological Structures at Depth

Domenico Liotta, Andrea Brogi, Giovanni Ruggieri and Martina Zucchi
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Domenico Liotta: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università degli Studi Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
Andrea Brogi: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università degli Studi Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
Giovanni Ruggieri: CNR-IGG, Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Via La Pira 4, 50121 Firenze, Italy
Martina Zucchi: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università degli Studi Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-27

Abstract: Comparison between fossil and analogue active geothermal systems permit to obtain key-parameters to define a conceptual model of the area under exploration. The approach is based on structural, kinematic, and fluid inclusions analyses. The fossil system is investigated to describe the distribution of the hydrothermal mineralization as witness of the fluid flow through geological structures and bodies, at depth. Structural and kinematic data (to define the preferential direction of fluid flow) are collected in structural stations and by scan lines and scan boxes on key outcrops. Distribution, length, width of fractures, and hydrothermal veins bring to evaluate permeability in the fossil system and, by analogy, in the deep roots of the active system. Fluid inclusions analysis shed light on density, viscosity, and temperature of the paleo-fluids. Data integration provides the hydraulic conductivity. In active geothermal systems, fieldwork is addressed to paleo-stress analysis with data from recent faults (<2 Ma), to compare with local focal mechanisms. By this, indications on the present fluid pathways are given. The main advantage resides in obtaining parameters normally got after drilling, thus contributing to strengthen the strategy of exploration, de-risking unsuccessful boreholes.

Keywords: structural geology; fieldwork; hydrothermal veins; geothermal systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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