Geophysics for Geothermal Energy
Jaap Mondt
2*4 hours
Business context
Geophysics provides technology with which we can "look" into the
subsurface. It is a key enabler of many activities in the search
for hydrocarbons, minerals, fresh water, and geothermal energy. Of
the many existing geophysical methods, two are important for
exploring and producing geothermal energy. These are Seismic and
Electromagnetic methods.
Who should attend
Geologists, Geophysicists, and others, involved in projects
related to extracting energy from the subsurface, shallow as well
as deep.
A reasonable level of understanding of geology and geophysics is
required.
Course content
In the first method, high resolution seismic up to 250 Hz can be
acquired with short offsets. For deeper geothermal sources, long
offset seismic is collected. Long offsets are needed for Refraction
Static corrections and in case Full Waveform Inversion is applied
for obtaining the diving waves. For geothermal application, the
presence of fractures and their orientation, being natural or
induced is an important property that can be derived from
seismic.
The second important geophysical method for geothermal energy is
electrical and electro-magnetic methods. Electrical or Direct
Current surveys use grounded electrodes for source and receivers.
They measure the potential difference using increasing receiver
electrode spacing. Changes in measured potentials contain
information on the resistivities of the subsurface.
Electro-Magnetic can use either grounded or inductive sources
(aerial surveys), but also natural sources as used in
Magneto-Telluric surveys. An important application uses
Ground-Penetrating Radar. These Electro-Magnetic sources can be a
harmonic source (using a single frequency) and the measurement of
the magnitude and phase delay, or real and imaginary responses are
used. The other Electro-Magnetic source option is a step-off
function. The subsurface information is then contained in the
amplitude decay after shut-off.
Learning, methods and tools
The course uses a Blended Learning approach based on a
user-friendly Learning Management System, called Moodle. In Moodle
different modules provide study material, videos, and
presentations. The course consists of two parts. Each part contains
a quiz which is meant to reinforce the learning. The quiz consists
of multiple-choice questions. For each question, all answers can be
tried.
Day by day programme
