西藏地热事业的喜悦与隐忧

ENJOYMENT AND SECRET WORRIES IN XIZANG'S (TIBETAN) GEOTHERMAL ENTERPRISE

联合国开发计划署和意大利政府最近准备再度资助西藏地热的二期项目,中国地球物理学界对此表示极大的关注。西藏高原的地热现象早就引起中外科学家的注意,最早的文字记载可以追溯到七世纪中叶,但到本世纪70年代初才提到地热发电利用。中国地球物理学界和地质学界对这一转变作出了巨大贡献。他们坚持认为西藏高原上地幔或下地壳内很可能存在局部熔融,这就为浅部的水热活动提供了深源热背景,并意味当地的地热资源具有巨大的动力开发潜力。西藏羊八井地热电站目前的装机容量已经达到16MWe,其北缘和邻近的羊易乡热田又分别钻探到202.2℃和201.8℃的高温;但是当前的西藏地热事业也存在许多隐忧。作者认为这些问题不解决,西藏地热事业便很难得到快速进展。

The United Nations Development Programme and Italian Government intend to give financial support once more to the 2nd stage project of the Xizang's geothermal enterprise recently, to which the Chinese geophysics and geology communities pay close attention. The geothermal phenomena in Tibetan plateau have attracted the interest from many explorers both of China and other countries for a long time. These phenomena have been treated as a new and welcome electric power resource since the early 1970s, even though their earliest Chinese record may be traced back to the middle of the 7th century. To this change the Chinese geophysicists and geologists have made a great contribution. Many people believe that a partial melting process may occur within the upper mantle or the lower crust of this plateau, which provides an abyssal thermal framework for the shallow hydrothermal activities, and means that there exist a great po- tentiality for geothermal power development. The total installed capacity of the Yangbajain geopower station reached 16 MWe, and the down-hole temperatures as high as 202.2℃ and 201.8℃ were obtained in the northern border and its close neighbor Yangyixiang respectively during 1987-1988. In spite of these, some secret worries still occur nowadays. The authors believe that the Xizang's geothermal enterprise could not progress rapidly, if such trouble remains unsolved.