Tectonic Control of the Reykjanes Geothermal Field in the Oblique Rift of SW Iceland:From Regional to Reservoir Scales

This paper presents a multidisciplinary structural analysis of the Reykjanes Peninsula where Holocene deformation of a young oblique rift controls the geothermal processes in presence of a transform segment. The new structural map from aerial images and outcrops is correlated with selected surface and subsurface data and shows a complex pattern: NNE extensional rift structures, N-S dextral and ENE sinistral oblique-slip Riedel shears of the transform zone, and WNW and NW dextral oblique-slip faults. Shear fractures are more common, and along with the NNE fractures, they compartmentalise the crustal blocks at any scale. The fractures are within two ENE Riedel shear zones, indicating a minimum 7.5 km wide transform zone. The greatly deformed Southern Riedel Shear Zone is bounded to the north and the south by the 1972 and the 2013 earthquake swarms. This shear zone contains the geothermal field in a highly fractured block to the west of a major NW structure. Some of the deformations are: a) clockwise rotation of rift structures by the 1972 earthquake zone, inducing local compression;b) magma injection into extensional and oblique-slip shear fractures;c) reactivation of rift structures by transform zone earthquakes;d) tectonic control of reservoir boundaries by WNW and ENE shear fractures, and the distribution of surface alteration, fumaroles, CO2 flux, reservoir fluid flow and the overall shape of pressure drawdown by N-S, ENE, WNW/NW and NNE fractures. Results demonstrate the role of seismo-tectonic boundaries beyond which fault types and density change, with implications for permeability.

Tectonic Control of the Theistareykir Geothermal Field by Rift and Transform Zones in North Iceland:A Multidisciplinary Approach

This paper presents a multidisciplinary structural analysis of a 165 km2 area in the Northern Rift Zone and the Tjörnes Fracture Zone of Iceland, and unravels the tectonic control of the Theistareykir geothermal field and its surroundings. About 10729 fracture segments (faults, open fractures, joints) are identified in the upper Tertiary to Holocene igneous series. The segments were extracted from aerial images and hillshade, and then analyzed in terms of number of sets, geometry, motions, frequency, and relative age. The correlation with surface geothermal manifestations, resistivity, earthquakes, and occasional well data reveals the critical regional and local fractures at the surface, reservoir level and greater depth. The main conclusions of this study are: 1) The structural pattern consists of N-S rift-parallel extensional fractures and the Riedel shears of the transform zone striking NNE, ENE, E-W, WNW and NW, which compartmentalize together the blocks at any scale. 2) The en échelon segmentation shows strike and oblique slips on the Riedel shears, with a dextral component on the WNW and NW planes and a sinistral component on the NNE to ENE faults. 3) Fractures form under the influence of the transform mechanism and the effect of rifting becomes significant only with time. 4) The WNW dextral oblique-slip Stórihver Fault of the transform zone has a horsetail splay that extends eastwards into the geothermal field. There, this structure, along with few NW, ENE, NNE and N-S fractures, controls the alteration, alignment of fumaroles, emanating deep gases. These fractures also rupture during natural or induced earthquakes. 5) The resistivity anomalies present en échelon geometries controlled by the six fracture sets. These anomalies display clockwise and anticlockwise rotations within the upper 8 km crustal depth, but at 8 km depth, only three sets (the N-S rift structures, and the E-W and the NW Riedel shears) are present at the rift and transform plate boundaries. Results of this study are relevant to resource exploration in other complex extensional contexts where rift and transform interact.ööö

Geothermic activity and seismotectonics in the altitude of the Tibetan plateau

In the present analysis on the relationships among the depth of lithosphere brittle fracture, seismotectonics and geothermal anomalous active in Tibetan plateau were investigated using the seismic dada from ISC and Chinese seismic net and geothermal data. The results suggest that the region of anomalously geothermal activity almost coincides with that of the normal faulting type earthquake. The geothermal anomaly activity region coincides spatially with that of the events deeper than 60 km as well as. The normal faulting earthquakes may be mainly tectonic activity regimes until 110 km deep in the thermal anomaly region. The strike directions of events are likely the N-S direction, coinciding with the strike of the thermal anomaly active belts. The earthquakes align along the normal faults and faulted-depression zone with the N-S direction. The thermal anomaly activity also distributes along the faulted-depression zone. Many events deeper than 60 km exist in the anomalously geothermal activity region in the plateau. Events extend to bottom of the lithosphere of 110 km from the surface, like columnar seismic crowd. The lithosphere extends along the E-W direction due to the E-W extensional stress in the central and southern Tibetan plateau, altitude of the plateau. The t6nsional stress in the E-W results in the lithosphere fractures and the normal faults striking N-S direction, grabens and faulted-depression zones. Thermal material from the asthenosphere wells upward to the surface along deep seismic fractures and faults through the thick crust. The anomalously thermal activities are attributable to the upwelling thermal material from the mantle in the altitude of Tibetan plateau.

Hydrothermal Systems Characterized by Crustal Thermally-dominated Structures of Southeastern China

Southeastern China(SE China)is located in the Pacific tectonic domain and has experienced a series of tectono-magmatic events induced by the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate since the late Mesozoic.The subduction formed a series of NE-NNE oriented faults under a NW-SE regional stress field,along which a number of thermal springs occur.Previous studies have focused on the genesis mechanism of specific geothermal fields in SE China,but the general characteristics of hydrothermal systems in SE China remains unclear.In this study,we investigate the correlation between geothermal activity,hydrochemical type and regional faults by studying the distribution of hydrothermal activity and geochemical properties of typical hydrothermal systems in SE China.The hydrothermal systems in SE China have a crustal thermally-dominated structural origin unique to the specific geological and tectonic conditions of the Eurasian Plate margin.The upwelling of the asthenosphere and the widespread granitoids with high radiogenic heat production in SE China provide major heat sources for regional geothermal anomalies.The NE-oriented crustal thermally-dominated faults are critical for the formation of geothermal anomalies and NW-oriented extensional faults have created favorable conditions for meteoric water infiltration,transportation and the formation of thermal springs.

Metamorphic fluxes of water and carbon in rivers of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Geothermal activities are common in active orogenic zones and play an important role in surface-earth geochemical processes.Here we analyzed the water chemical compositions,stable and radioactive carbon isotopes of dissolved inorganic carbon(δ^(13)CDICandΔ^(14)CDIC)of hot springs and large rivers in the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau(QTP).The hot springs had major ions’concentrations varying in a wide range,and most hot springs’alkalinities resulted from high-temperature silicate alteration.The observed hot springs’waters were affected by the mixing of metamorphic fluids and surface waters,which altered the water chemistry andΔ^(14)CDICof the hot springs.Because the observedΔ^(14)CDICin hot springs was much higher than the theoreticalΔ^(14)CDICin metamorphic fluids(i.e.,-1000‰),we used an isotopic mass balance approach(i.e.,Δ^(14)CDIC)to quantify the contribution of surface waters to the hot springs.After the ions of metamorphic fluids were calibrated byΔ^(14)CDIC,the metamorphic water fluxes were calculated by the chemical mass balance approach of Ge/Si ratios,using the Monte-Carlo method.We found that the proportion of metamorphic water fluxes to the river discharge ranged from 0.17%for the Yellow River to 0.52%for the Jinsha River,and it would be much higher in some tributaries.The horizontal metamorphic contributions of alkalinity to the large rivers ranged from 0.87%to 3.96%in eastern QTP,and the vertical metamorphic carbon outgassing would be much higher.The metamorphic fluids fluxes estimated in this study were much lower than previous estimations extrapolated from small Himalayan rivers,and thus we thought that the previous estimations of metamorphic carbon fluxes in QTP were likely over-estimated.We propose that systematic studies are needed to be conducted to constrain the metamorphic carbon flux in QTP.This study shed light on the release of metamorphic carbon in the orogenic zone,placing limits on the results of orogenic forcing on chemical weatherability.