Abstract
Tokaj Mountains, as a large Miocene volcanic region in North-East Hungary, is the homeland of the famous Tokaj wine. The Tokaj wine region can be found on the world heritage list of UNESCO. Although there were several mineral prospecting activities at the Tokaj Mountains in the 1960s and 1970s, the groundwater resources on a regional scale have not been revealed yet. The regional water budget and the groundwater flow systems were not known before the complex hydrogeological investigations recently carried out by the University of Miskolc. Although shallow groundwater is being produced at some small-scale waterworks to cover local drinking water demands, it has believed that there is no chance to find thermal water and to extract underground heat in this volcanic area because of the average hydraulic conductivity of the subsurface formations is very low. It is encouraging that intensive tectonic lines were determined by geophysical methods during the recent field campaigns. The presence of valuable thermal water resources was discovered along these tectonic lines opening new perspectives in geothermal exploration in this region. After the extensive field measurements, a regional scale groundwater-flow model was constructed to characterize the subsurface flow systems and the available shallow and deep groundwater resources of the Tokaj Mountains. A special prospecting methodology involving geological, hydrogeological and surface geophysical methods was elaborated to find thermal water resources in this complex geological/ecological environment.
Highlights
The volcanic Tokaj Mountains are located in North Hungary and divided by the Hungarian and Slovakian border
This UNESCO world heritage region is famous for the well-known Tokaj wine
Description of flow paths based on geothermal data Some basic information about several hundred wells is available for the whole area of the Tokaj Mountains
Summary
The volcanic Tokaj Mountains are located in North Hungary and divided by the Hungarian and Slovakian border. Description of flow paths based on geothermal data Some basic information about several hundred wells is available for the whole area of the Tokaj Mountains. The tritium, O18, and C14 isotopes measurements (Szűcs et al, 2015:2) of the water samples from those wells and the groundwater age estimates confirm the validity of the suggested conceptual flow model (Fig. 11). Local field campaigns to reveal thermal water resources Many lukewarm springs were investigated along the main tectonic lines on the discharge areas in order to obtain a more precious picture of the groundwater flow systems. By analyzing the data of all wells and springs in the area and using the results of the previous research, we created the hydrogeological and water chemistry database of the Tokaj Mountains as it was described earlier. It gives the opportunity for tourism, hotel, wellness or spa developments in this interesting touristic region
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