Radiogenic heat production variations in the Gonghe basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau: Implications for the origin of high-temperature geothermal resources

Zhang, Chao; Hu, Shengbiao; Zhang, Shengsheng; Li, Shengtao; Zhang, Linyou; Kong, Yaozhong; Zuo, Yinhui; Song, Rongcai; Jiang, Guangzheng; Wang, Zhuting

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2019.11.156

Cited by 56 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The heat generation values of the Triassic granites in the Gonghe Basin were 3:20 ± 1:07 μWm -3 (N = 45, value ranging from 1.17 to 5.58 μWm -3 ), slightly higher than the global average value of 3:09 ± 1:62 μWm -3 and a local background value of 2.07 μWm -3 [12][13][14]17] (Figure 10). Such radioactive heat production can only contribute at most 30-40% of the terrestrial heat flow in the Gonghe Basin [12,13]. This indicates that radioactive heat from the basement rock could not result in the anomalously high geothermal gradient in the basin.…”

Section: Potential Heat Source Of the Gonghe Hot Dry Rockmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently geothermal survey has revealed that the Tibetan Plateau has the great potential for HDR exploration [8,9]. Specifically, the Gonghe Basin in the NE Tibetan Plateau is the prominent region for developing HDR in China owing to the abnormally high heat flow of 119 mW/ m 2 , steep geothermal gradient of 6.8 °C/100 m, and large HDR masses with total area of 3029 km 2 [3,[10][11][12]. Geothermal energy explorations have been conducted in two geothermal fields in the Qiabuqia and Zhacang areas in the Gonghe Basin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Radiogenic decay of elements such as U, Th, and K of the granite is regarded to provide the primary heat source of the HDR [8,11,14,15]. However, cooled Mesozoic granitic pluton only had moderate radioactive heat generation rates ranging from 1.17 μW/m 3 to 5.58 μW/m 3 with a mean value of 3:20 ± 1:07 μW/m 3 [12,14], which makes it not the dominant capacity for continuous heat supply [13,16,17]. The other hypothesis is that the uplifted crustal conductive anomalous zone at the depth of ~10-25 km was interpreted as the partial melting belt, and it potentially provided heat source for the geothermal and HDR through the high thermal conductor and heat collector of the granites at depth of ~3-10 km beneath the Gonghe Basin [4,13,[18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Geothermal Accumulation Constrained by the Tectonic Transformation in the Gonghe Basin, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Advances in the exploration of the geothermal resources with remarkably high temperatures in the Gonghe Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, provide an enhanced understanding of the origin and emplacement of hot dry rock (HDR). Based on the integrating analysis on the boundary faults distribution and their activity histories, springs and geothermal borehole data, and magnetotelluric data, we propose that the Gonghe Basin formed in a zone of slip dissipation between two major large-scale left-lateral strike-slip faults of the Kunlun fault to the south and the Haiyuan fault to the north during the Neogene time. During the evolution of these two major strike-slip faults, the basin has experienced two-phase developments: the transrotational Gonghe-Qinghai lacustrine basin system during the Miocene and the transpressional Gonghe-Tongde basin system during the Pliocene-Quaternary. In response to the crustal transtension components of the transrotational Gonghe Basin, the partial melting zone at depths of 10–25 km in the thickened crust (~54 km) has been uplifted by ~10 km compared with adjacent regions since the Pliocene. This uplifted partial melting zone may have provided prominent potential heat energy for the HDR in the Triassic granitoid batholith at shallower depths (~3–10 km) by effective enhancement of the geothermal conduction process via deep faulting. With obliquely south-verging thrusting of the Gonghe Nan Shan thrusts in the northern, the Gonghe Basin has transformed from transrotation to transpression-domination during the 6–3 Ma, as well as accompanying with the depocentre migrating to the northwest and in turn the basement elastically uplifting in the southeast. This differential deformation of the basin floor has resulted in a northeastward upward tilting of the Triassic batholith and an isothermal surface. It finally developed the high-temperature and shallow-burial HDR with anomalously temperatures of over 100°C at a depth of 1.5 km in the Qiabuqia and Zhacang geothermal areas in the Gonghe Basin, NE margin of the Tibetan Plateau.

show abstract

Section: Potential Heat Source Of the Gonghe Hot Dry Rockmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Geothermal Accumulation Constrained by the Tectonic Transformation in the Gonghe Basin, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Radiogenic heat mostly produced by the existence of radioactive elements in the igneous rocks both volcano and plutonic rocks (Singh and Vallinayagam, 2016). Thorium, Uranium and Potassium are widely discovered in granite and has been studied by numerous researchers (He et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2020) for contribution to radiogenic heat production. These elements were processed in the mantle, but are concentrated mainly in the crust.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiogenic heat production of S-type and I-type granite rocks in Bangka Island, Indonesia

Siregar

Widana

Sismanto

2021

KJS publishes peer-review articles in Mathematics, Computer Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Radiogenic heat production (RHP) has been investigated from widely types of rocks based on regional setting and metamorphism grade. In this study, we analyze the abundance of heat producing elements (U, Th, K) and Radiogenic Heat Production (RHP) on I-type and S-type granite rocks in Bangka Island, one of the main provinces in Tin Belt Island. The average U, Th and K concentrations for both S-type and I-types granite are 10.27 ppm, 79.6 ppm, 3.1% and 87.79 ppm, 99.2 ppm and 1.93 % respectively. The highest concentration of U (681.22 ppm) and Th (99.2 ppm) are found in Pangkal Pinang and K (3.79%) in West Bangka. We analyze that RHP average for I-type granite is higher with 27.87 (N=17, range from 12.97 to 550.28) than S-type with 8.43 (N=11, range from 4.93 to 12.64). The Th/U ratio shows an exponential correlation with RHP and classifies S-type granite tectonic discriminant as continental collision and I-type granite as continental arc.

show abstract

“…Lang et al (2016) reported a heat flow of 79.5 mW/m 2 in Zhacanggou area, Guide County using borehole temperature data and thermal conductivity data, and suggested a mantle heat flow contribution of approximately 27 mW/m 2 . Zhang et al (2018Zhang et al ( , 2020b estimated the heat production contribution of the crust and mantle in the Qiaboqia Valley using borehole temperature data and radiogenic heat generation data, and established an approximate warm crust-warm mantle type of crustal thermal structure in the Gonghe Basin, which is considered to have a mantle heat flow contribution of 53.9 mW/m 2 . In view of the regional influence of mantle heat flow (Francheteau et al, 1984), it remains debated whether notable mantle heat flow differences can exist in a such small area (<80 km between the two locations), and this finding is inconsistent with the traditional assessment of a hot crust-cold mantle type of crustal thermal structure in the Tibetan Plateau (Wang and Huang, 1996).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat Aggregation Mechanisms of Hot Dry Rocks Resources in the Gonghe Basin, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Lin

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2021

Acta Geologica Sinica (Eng)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hot dry rock (HDR) is an important geothermal resource and clean energy source that may play an increasingly important role in future energy management. High‐temperature HDR resources were recently detected in deep regions of the Gonghe Basin on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, which led to a significant breakthrough in HDR resource exploration in China. This research analyzes the deep temperature distribution, radiogenic heat production, heat flow, and crustal thermal structure in the Qiaboqia Valley, Guide Plain, and Zhacanggou area of the Gonghe Basin based on geothermal exploration borehole logging data, rock thermophysical properties, and regional geophysical exploration data. The results are applied to discuss the heat accumulation mechanism of the HDR resources in the Gonghe Basin. The findings suggest that a low‐velocity layer in the thickened crust of the Tibetan Plateau provides the most important source of constant intracrustal heat for the formation of HDR resources in the Gonghe Basin, whereas crustal thickening redistributes the concentrated layer of radioactive elements, which compensates for the relatively low heat production of the basal granite and serves as an important supplement to the heat of the HDR resources. The negative effect is that the downward curvature of the lithospheric upper mantle caused by crustal thickening leads to a small mantle heat flow component. As a result, the heat flows in the Qiaboqia Valley and Guide Plain of the Gonghe Basin are 106.2 and 77.6 mW/m2, respectively, in which the crust‐mantle heat flow ratio of the former is 3.12:1, indicating a notably anomalous intracrustal thermal structure. In contrast, the crust‐mantle heat flow ratio in the Guide Plain is 1.84:1, which reflects a typical hot crust‐cold mantle thermal structure. The Guide Plain and Zhacanggou area show the same increasing temperature trend with depth, which reflects that their geothermal backgrounds and deep high‐temperature environments are similar. These results provide important insight on the heat source mechanism of HDR resource formation in the Tibetan Plateau and useful guidance for future HDR resource exploration projects and target sites selection in similar areas.

show abstract

Radiogenic heat production variations in the Gonghe basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau: Implications for the origin of high-temperature geothermal resources

Cited by 56 publications

References 33 publications

Geothermal Accumulation Constrained by the Tectonic Transformation in the Gonghe Basin, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Geothermal Accumulation Constrained by the Tectonic Transformation in the Gonghe Basin, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Radiogenic heat production of S-type and I-type granite rocks in Bangka Island, Indonesia

Heat Aggregation Mechanisms of Hot Dry Rocks Resources in the Gonghe Basin, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About