Geologic controls on supercritical geothermal resources above magmatic intrusions
A new and economically attractive type of geothermal resource was recently discovered in the Krafla volcanic system, Iceland, consisting of supercritical water at 450 °C immediately above a 2-km deep magma body. Although utilizing such supercritical resources could multiply power production from geo...
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/103244 2023-08-20T04:07:26+02:00 Geologic controls on supercritical geothermal resources above magmatic intrusions Scott, Samuel Driesner, Thomas Weis, Philipp 2015 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/103244 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000103244 en eng Nature info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/ncomms8837 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000358861300001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/103244 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000103244 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Nature Communications, 6 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2015 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/10324410.3929/ethz-b-00010324410.1038/ncomms8837 2023-07-30T23:48:40Z A new and economically attractive type of geothermal resource was recently discovered in the Krafla volcanic system, Iceland, consisting of supercritical water at 450 °C immediately above a 2-km deep magma body. Although utilizing such supercritical resources could multiply power production from geothermal wells, the abundance, location and size of similar resources are undefined. Here we present the first numerical simulations of supercritical geothermal resource formation, showing that they are an integral part of magma-driven geothermal systems. Potentially exploitable resources form in rocks with a brittle–ductile transition temperature higher than 450 °C, such as basalt. Water temperatures and enthalpies can exceed 400 °C and 3 MJ kg−1, depending on host rock permeability. Conventional high-enthalpy resources result from mixing of ascending supercritical and cooler surrounding water. Our models reproduce the measured thermal conditions of the resource discovered at Krafla. Similar resources may be widespread below conventional high-enthalpy geothermal systems. ISSN:2041-1723 Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland ETH Zürich Research Collection Krafla ENVELOPE(-16.747,-16.747,65.713,65.713) |
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ETH Zürich Research Collection |
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language |
English |
description |
A new and economically attractive type of geothermal resource was recently discovered in the Krafla volcanic system, Iceland, consisting of supercritical water at 450 °C immediately above a 2-km deep magma body. Although utilizing such supercritical resources could multiply power production from geothermal wells, the abundance, location and size of similar resources are undefined. Here we present the first numerical simulations of supercritical geothermal resource formation, showing that they are an integral part of magma-driven geothermal systems. Potentially exploitable resources form in rocks with a brittle–ductile transition temperature higher than 450 °C, such as basalt. Water temperatures and enthalpies can exceed 400 °C and 3 MJ kg−1, depending on host rock permeability. Conventional high-enthalpy resources result from mixing of ascending supercritical and cooler surrounding water. Our models reproduce the measured thermal conditions of the resource discovered at Krafla. Similar resources may be widespread below conventional high-enthalpy geothermal systems. ISSN:2041-1723 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Scott, Samuel Driesner, Thomas Weis, Philipp |
spellingShingle |
Scott, Samuel Driesner, Thomas Weis, Philipp Geologic controls on supercritical geothermal resources above magmatic intrusions |
author_facet |
Scott, Samuel Driesner, Thomas Weis, Philipp |
author_sort |
Scott, Samuel |
title |
Geologic controls on supercritical geothermal resources above magmatic intrusions |
title_short |
Geologic controls on supercritical geothermal resources above magmatic intrusions |
title_full |
Geologic controls on supercritical geothermal resources above magmatic intrusions |
title_fullStr |
Geologic controls on supercritical geothermal resources above magmatic intrusions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Geologic controls on supercritical geothermal resources above magmatic intrusions |
title_sort |
geologic controls on supercritical geothermal resources above magmatic intrusions |
publisher |
Nature |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/103244 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000103244 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-16.747,-16.747,65.713,65.713) |
geographic |
Krafla |
geographic_facet |
Krafla |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Nature Communications, 6 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1038/ncomms8837 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000358861300001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/103244 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000103244 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/10324410.3929/ethz-b-00010324410.1038/ncomms8837 |
_version_ |
1774719066803535872 |