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Coupled Process Models as a Tool for Analysing Hydrothermal Systems

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Abstract

Hydrothermal systems are characterised by complex interactions between heat transfer, fluid flow, deformation, species transport and chemical reactions. Numerical models can provide quantitatively constrained information in regions where acquisition of new data is difficult or expensive thus providing a means for reducing risks, costs, and effort during targeting, production, and management of resources linked to hydrothermal systems. Here we show how numerical simulations of hydrothermal processes can be used to better understand coupled reactive transport in modern geothermal systems and in ancient hydrothermal ore deposits. We give examples based on the Enhanced Geothermal System at Soultz-sous-Forêts in France, hydrothermal mineralisation at Mount Isa in Australia, and the geothermal resource at Hamburg-Allermöhe in Germany.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Xstrata Copper Australia, who funded the Mt Isa Copper modelling through the Predictive Mineral Discovery Cooperative Research Centre (pmd*CRC) and provided generous logistical support. A. R. Wilde and P. A. Jones are thanked for fruitful discussions. Research on the Allermöhe site was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs (BMWi), grant 032 70 95. We thank Peter Sorjonen-Ward, Lawrence Cathles, and Ingo Sass for thorough reviews of the manuscript, and many helpful suggestions.

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  1. M. Blumenthal

    Present address: GeoMechanics International, Emmerich-Josef-Str.5, 55116, Mainz, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Exploration Targeting, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    K. Gessner

  2. Computational Geoscience, CSIRO Exploration and Mining, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA, 6102, Australia

    K. Gessner

  3. GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Centre for CO2 Storage, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    M. Kühn

  4. Applied Geophysics and Geothermal Energy, E.ON Energy Research Center, RWTH Aachen University, Lochnerstr. 4-20, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    V. Rath, C. Kosack, M. Blumenthal & C. Clauser

  5. Department of Astrophysics and Atmospheric Sciences, Faculty of Physical Sciences, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    V. Rath

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Gessner, K., Kühn, M., Rath, V. et al. Coupled Process Models as a Tool for Analysing Hydrothermal Systems. Surv Geophys 30, 133–162 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-009-9067-1

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