Geothermal exploration
[3] This information allows for higher success rates in geothermal plant production as well as lower drilling costs.
[4] Some geothermal experts have gone to say that developments in exploration techniques and technologies have the potential to bring the greatest advancements within the industry.
[4] Temperature gradients, thermal pockets and other geothermal characteristics can be measured directly after drilling, providing valuable information.
Seismology has played a significant role in the oil and gas industry and is now being adapted to geothermal exploration.
[6] Therefore, these micro earthquakes (MEQ), registering below 2.0 magnitude on the Richter scale, are used to reveal subsurface qualities relating to geothermal exploration.
[7] The high rate of MEQ in geothermal regions produce large datasets that do not require long field deployments.
Active Seismology, which has history in the oil and gas industry, involves studying man made vibrational wave propagation.
The most common geophone spreads are in line, offset, in-line with center shot and Fan shooting.
These basic principles can be used to identify subsurface anomalies, reflective layers and other objects with high impedance contrasts.
[6] This method is well applied when identifying dense subsurface anomalies including granite bodies, which are vital to locate in the geothermal exploration projects.
Developments in airborne gravitational studies yield large amounts of data, which can be used to model the subsurface 3 dimensionally with relatively high levels of accuracy.
When correlated with current weather conditions, this can be measured and modeled to estimate the rate of recharge in geothermal reservoirs.
However, care must be exercised when interpreting low resistivity zones since they may also be caused by changes in rock type and temperature.
As a result, it is possible a tomographic reconstruction of geology, since the currents are determined by the underlying response of the different rocks to the changing magnetic field.
Scientists within this field relate surface fluid properties and geologic data to geothermal bodies.
