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Geophysical Geothermal Reservoir Exploration, Monitoring, and Development – Volume II

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J: Thermal Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2024 | Viewed by 1656

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Geo-exploration Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China
Interests: combined near-surface geophysical exploration imaging and geothermal reservoir monitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Geophysicist at the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM, USA
Interests: geothermal monitoring with geophysics and machine learning methods

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Guest Editor
1. College of Geo-exploration Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China
2. Key Laboratory of Applied Geophysics, Ministry of Natural Resources of PRC, Changchun 130026, China
3. Ministry of Land and Resources, Key Laboratory of Applied Geophysics, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China
Interests: geodetection and information technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal or supercritical geothermal systems are a clean renewable energy source of great developmental value. Geophysical methods, such as magnetotelluric (MT), distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), and gravitational, active, and passive seismic methods, are important technical means in the exploration, development, and monitoring of HDR reservoirs based on the differences in reservoir physics parameters. The conventional geothermal–geophysical methods focus on the reservoir interpretation and evaluation of the HDR target site. This does not provide details about the formation mechanisms of HDR thermal storage and the temporal and spatial variation in the geothermal heat flux, especially for the monitoring of reservoir intrinsic parameters before and after artificial fracturing, such as the extension of fractures in the reservoir, the distribution of fluid migration, and reservoir permeability. Based on the gravitational anomaly, electrical parameters (resistivity, impedance phase), and reservoir velocity changes, we combine geophysical methods to monitor reservoir parameter variations and build a dynamic reservoir model from different scales and parameters. The machine learning (ML) method is used to organize and classify geophysical data and to correct and calculate the reservoir dynamic model to predict the variation in reservoir intrinsic parameters. In this Special Issue, we want to present papers on geothermal resource exploration, monitoring, and development for HDR or deep supercritical geothermal systems. We also would like to address geothermal resource/reserve classifications and their mutual relations. We also invite authors specializing in technological novelties in geothermal exploration, monitoring, and development. This Special Issue calls for theoretical and empirical papers focusing on the following topics:

  • Geothermal reservoir monitoring by geophysics methods;
  • Geothermal reservoir prediction by deep learning;
  • Geothermal reservoir modeling and simulation;
  • Geothermal multi-field coupling and geothermal well development;
  • Supercritical geothermal systems.

Prof. Dr. Jing Li
Dr. Kai Gao
Prof. Dr. Zhaofa Zeng
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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20 pages, 10753 KiB  
Article
Subsurface Imaging by a Post-Stimulation Walkaway Vertical Seismic Profile Using Distributed Acoustic Sensing at the Utah FORGE Enhanced Geothermal System Site
by Yin-Kai Wang and Robert R. Stewart
Energies 2024, 17(13), 3119; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17133119 - 25 Jun 2024
Viewed by 299
Abstract
A 2D walkway vertical seismic profile (VSP) survey was conducted using a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system in southwest Utah, which is part of an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) project. The VSP was undertaken to obtain detailed structural information for a better understanding [...] Read more.
A 2D walkway vertical seismic profile (VSP) survey was conducted using a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system in southwest Utah, which is part of an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) project. The VSP was undertaken to obtain detailed structural information for a better understanding of the area’s subsurface geology and associated fracture development. By combining a 3D composite velocity model from previous studies and considering the complex geological structure beneath this region, we processed the data to create P-P depth image. We also modified the interval Q calculation using a moving window over the gauge-length corrected DAS record to generate the velocity profile and the comparable interval attenuation curve. The correlated P-P images from two DAS records successfully indicate not only the main contact between shallow unconsolidated sediments and the metamorphic basement rocks at 2650 ft (807.72 m) but also several distinct reflections related to the geological contacts. The refined velocity profiles and the depth images can provide baseline results for further seismic modeling and time-lapse imaging. Full article
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33 pages, 31726 KiB  
Article
Seismic Characterization of the Blue Mountain Geothermal Field
by Kai Gao, Lianjie Huang and Trenton Cladouhos
Energies 2023, 16(15), 5822; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16155822 - 5 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1051
Abstract
Subsurface characterization is crucial for geothermal energy exploration and production. Yet hydrothermal reservoirs usually reside in highly fractured and faulted zones where accurate characterization is very challenging because of low signal-to-noise ratios of land seismic data and lack of coherent reflection signals. We [...] Read more.
Subsurface characterization is crucial for geothermal energy exploration and production. Yet hydrothermal reservoirs usually reside in highly fractured and faulted zones where accurate characterization is very challenging because of low signal-to-noise ratios of land seismic data and lack of coherent reflection signals. We perform an active-source seismic characterization for the Blue Mountain geothermal field in Nevada using active seismic data to reveal the elastic medium property complexity and fault distribution at this field. We first employ an unsupervised machine learning method to attenuate groundroll and near-surface guided-wave noise and enhance coherent reflection and scattering signals from noisy seismic data. We then build a smooth initial P-wave velocity model based on an existing magnetotellurics survey result, and use 3D first-arrival traveltime tomography to refine the initial velocity model. We then derive a set of elastic wave velocities and anisotropic parameters using elastic full-waveform inversion, and obtain PP and PS images using elastic reverse-time migration. We identify major faults by analyzing the variations of seismic velocities and anisotropy parameters, and reveal mid- to small-scale faults by applying a supervised machine learning method to the seismic migration images. Our characterization reveals complex velocity heterogeneities and anisotropies, as well as faults, with a high spatial resolution. These results can provide valuable information for optimal placement of future injection and production wells to increase geothermal energy production at the Blue Mountain geothermal power plant. Full article
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