Correlation and interpretation of thermal properties of volcanic rocks from Austria

Abstract

Thermal properties of rocks are of great importance not only for geothermal projects. The focus of petrophysical data presented here is laid mainly on volcanic rocks. Thermal properties include not only thermal conductivity but also heat production and heat capacity. A full range of dataset and analysis out of it is presented here. The target of this study is to deliver new insights in the thermal properties of volcanic rocks of Austria. The focus is laid on thermal conductivity—understanding of influencing factors and correlations with other properties, like compressional wave velocity, electrical resistivity or radiogenic heat production. Therefore, a set of data from various volcanic rocks of Austria is presented, analysed in detail and new correlations are presented. The correlations can be further applied on logging data to derive thermal properties in the field. These improved correlations and further interpretations can help in planning geothermal projects and can improve the output of simulations because of the better input data.