Abstract
Gravity data retrieved from the Bureau Gravimétrique International and the Gravimetric Atlas of Switzerland have been used to evaluate their applicability as a subsurface investigation tool to assess key geological features in support of the geothermal exploration in the Geneva Basin (GB). In this context, the application of an effective processing workflow able to produce reliable residual gravity anomalies was implemented as a crucial first step to investigate whether and to what level gravity anomalies can be correlated to geologic sources of geothermal interest. This study focusses on the processing workflow applied to publicly available gravity data, including the quantification of the uncertainty. This was then also used for first-order 2D forward gravity modelling. The resulting residual anomalies demonstrate the potential use of gravity investigations for geothermal exploration in sedimentary basins, and also reveal areas of significant, irreparable misfit, which calls for the use of complementary data and 3D subsurface structural knowledge. The results of such investigations will be presented in subsequent studies.
Highlights
The deployment of renewable energy sources for both power and heat production is accelerating in Switzerland, a trend that will continue as a result of the 2050 Swiss Energy Strategy (Swiss Federal Office of Energy, 2018) that aims at gradually phasing out nuclear power by reducing the energy consumption and increasing heat and electric power generation from renewable energy sources
Quality control on observed gravity data was performed in order to preserve as much as possible the data available by (1) plotting on a map the observed gravity values (G_Obs) and manually removing outliers showing anomalous values compared to surrounding stations, and (2) crosschecking between Observed gravity (G_Obs) data and station elevation values, in case of ambiguity, were compared to the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V002 (GDEM)
The results reveal an overall low misfit between the two anomalies and the larger misfit up to − 11.6 mGal is observed in mountainous regions (Jura in particular most probably affected by ASTER GDEM large uncertainties) at the boundaries of the study area and of only marginal interest for geothermal exploration in the study area
Summary
The deployment of renewable energy sources for both power and heat production is accelerating in Switzerland, a trend that will continue as a result of the 2050 Swiss Energy Strategy (Swiss Federal Office of Energy, 2018) that aims at gradually phasing out nuclear power by reducing the energy consumption and increasing heat and electric power generation from renewable energy sources. Geothermal energy will be, an important resource to supply heat and power for industrial, agricultural, and domestic use. Together with the political vision of reducing the use of fossil fuels for heat production in the Canton of Geneva, triggered the development. The Geneva Basin (GB) and its surrounding French region (Plateau des Bornes, Bellegarde, Fig. 1) has been intensively studied for hydrocarbon exploration since the 1960s, and for geothermal exploitation in the 1990s, but only economically non-viable production of geo-resources has been recorded. Moscariello and 8 bar wellhead pressure (Guglielmetti et al, 2020; Moscariello et al, 2020; Services Industriels de Genève, 2018).
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