Two-Dimensional Gravity Inversion of Basement Relief for Geothermal Energy Potentials at the Harrat Rahat Volcanic Field, Saudi Arabia, Using Particle Swarm Optimization

Faisal Alqahtani, Ema Michael Abraham, Essam Aboud and Murad Rajab
Additional contact information
Faisal Alqahtani: Geohazards Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Ema Michael Abraham: Department of Geology/Geophysics, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, P.M.B. 1010, Abakaliki 482131, Ebonyi, Nigeria
Essam Aboud: Geohazards Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Murad Rajab: Geohazards Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-30

Abstract: We invert gravity and magnetic anomalies for basement relief at the Harrat Rahat Volcanic Field (HRVF) for the purpose of evaluating its geothermal energy prospects. HRVF is dominated by basaltic scoria cones and other volcanic rocks overlying the Proterozoic basement. The area considered for this study is located within the northern HRVF and consists mainly of alkali basalts with lesser amounts of benmoreite, mugearite, hawaiite, and trachyte. Our approach adopts a global optimization technique using Particle Swarm Optimization with automated parameter selection, and a two-dimensional gravity-magnetic (GM) forward modeling procedure. The results of the PSO-based approach indicate a depth to the basement at 0.10–624 m, with greater depths within the central region of a solitary anomalous density body in the HRVF. The obtained basement geometry is corroborated by the depth estimates obtained from other potential field inversion methods. The regions with higher prospects are mapped for a targeted future geothermal energy exploration at the HRVF, based on our inversion results.

Keywords: geothermal; gravity; inversion; depths; magnetics; reservoir (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/8/2887/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/8/2887/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:8:p:2887-:d:794216

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().