The sealing capacity of the cap rock above the Torre Alfina geothermal reservoir (Central Italy) revealed by soil CO2 flux investigations

Carapezza, Maria Luisa; Ranaldi, Massimo; Gattuso, Alessandro; Pagliuca, Nicola Mauro; Tarchini, Luca

doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2014.12.011

Cited by 25 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…No anomalous soil CO 2 flux was recorded by the detailed investigations performed by Carapezza et al [30]. This indicates the effectiveness of the impervious behavior of both the sealing units, which are continuous all over the reservoir area with a thickness of no less than 400 meters and the fault system connecting the geothermal reservoir with the surface.…”

Section: Conceptual Modelmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…Despite the extremely favorable conditions for exploitation [23], its industrial development was not promoted till 2011. A new geothermal research permit was requested for the Torre Alfina area, aimed to the development of 2 new generation 5 MWe pilot doublet plants, with reduced gas emission [30,48].…”

Section: The Castel Giorgio-torre Alfina Geothermalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is guaranteed by a horizontal distance between lateral model boundaries and the geothermal field of 7.5 km in the E-W direction and of 2.5 km in the N-S direction ( Figure 4). Due to the large extent of the geothermal reservoir and its intrinsic geological complexity, a complete review of the existing data and literature was required [23,25,30,31,57,61,63,65].…”

Section: Conceptual Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Detailed hydrogeothermal data, available for the selected area since early 70s, show that the CG-TA is a potential geothermal reservoir with medium thermal characteristics (120 ∘ C-210 ∘ C) whose fluids (pressurized water and gas, mainly CO 2 ) are hosted in a fractured carbonate formation [24,[26][27][28][29][30]. Data from the deepest geothermal drilling in the area (Alfina015 well, max depth −4,826 m a.s.l., see Figure 1 for location) show a highly variable temperature gradient ranging between 0.15 ∘ C/10 m and 2.1 ∘ C/10 m [31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling Highly Buoyant Flows in the Castel Giorgio: Torre Alfina Deep Geothermal Reservoir

et al. 2018

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The Castel Giorgio-Torre Alfina (CG-TA, central Italy) is a geothermal reservoir whose fluids are hosted in a carbonate formation at temperatures ranging between 120 ∘ C and 210 ∘ C. Data from deep wells suggest the existence of convective flow. We present the 3D numerical model of the CG-TA to simulate the undisturbed natural geothermal field and investigate the impacts of the exploitation process. The open source finite-element code OpenGeoSys is applied to solve the coupled systems of partial differential equations. The commercial software FEFLOW5 is also used as additional numerical constraint. Calculated pressure and temperature have been calibrated against data from geothermal wells. The flow field displays multicellular convective patterns that cover the entire geothermal reservoir. The resulting thermal plumes protrude vertically over 3 km at Darcy velocity of about 7 * 10 −8 m/s. The analysis of the exploitation process demonstrated the sustainability of a geothermal doublet for the development of a 5 MW pilot plant. The buoyant circulation within the geothermal system allows the reservoir to sustain a 50-year production at a flow rate of 1050 t/h. The distance of 2 km, between the production and reinjection wells, is sufficient to prevent any thermal breakthrough within the estimated operational lifetime. OGS and FELFOW results are qualitatively very similar with differences in peak velocities and temperatures. The case study provides valuable guidelines for future exploitation of the CG-TA deep geothermal reservoir. IntroductionSince the 1970s, the increasing threat of a worldwide energy crisis has prompted many governments to reduce their dependence on traditional nonrenewable energy sources focusing on renewable ones (e.g., geothermal energy, hydroelectric, wind-energy, and several forms of solar energy, such as bioenergy, biofuel, photovoltaic, and solar-thermal energy [1]). Geothermal energy is expected to play an increasing role to meet future power demand. This is related to its enormous exploiting potential, which is capturing the attention of industries also due to technological advances in the exploration of promising geothermal fields [2,3].Most of the world famous geothermal energy sources exploited today are associated with volcanic and/or recent tectonically active areas. Important examples are the geothermal areas of Yellowstone [4][5][6] northern California [7], the Pannonic Basin [8], and the Rhine Graben [9][10][11]. Italy strongly contributes to the development of geothermal power generation. In 1904, the world first electrical power was produced from a geothermal energy source in the Larderello site (Tuscany, central Italy) [1,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18].Beyond the world famous Larderello system, fossil and active hydrothermal manifestations are distributed all along the Preappennine belt of central Italy, facing the Tyrrhenian coast. This area has undergone both lithospheric extension and upper mantle doming. Such processes have been active since the Miocene [19,20] and are likely...

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Section: Conceptual Modelmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: The Castel Giorgio-torre Alfina Geothermalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptual Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling Highly Buoyant Flows in the Castel Giorgio: Torre Alfina Deep Geothermal Reservoir

et al. 2018

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“…Generally soil respiration CO 2 fluxes are lower than few tens of g*m -2 d -1 [e.g. Rey et al, 2002;Carapezza et al, 2015], while hydrothermal or magmatic diffuse effluxes span tens to several thousands of g*m -2 d -1 , like in the near Solfatara di Pozzuoli degassing area [Chiodini et al, 2010]. Thus, we considered fluxes up to 23.3 g*m -2 d -1 belonging to soil respiration processes.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidisciplinary studies of diffuse soil CO2 flux, gas permeability, self-potential, soil temperature highlight the structural architecture of Fondi di Baia craters (Campi Flegrei caldera, Italy)

Tarchini

Ranaldi²,

Carapezza³

et al. 2018

Annals of Geophysics

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We present in this paper the results of a geophysical and geochemical survey of self potential, diffuse soil CO 2 flux, soil temperature and gas permeability carried out in the Fondi di Baia craters on the western sector of Campi Flegrei caldera, one of the most hazardous active volcano in Italy. Work was aimed at highlighting the small-scale volcano-tectonic structures of this Holocene edifice and at evaluating its state of fracturing, in order to ascertain possible volcanic hazard for future vent reopening. The central sector of Campi Flegrei (Solfatara volcano-Pisciarelli) is indeed the one most affected by ground deformation and intense high-temperature fumarolic activity, nevertheless it cannot be ruled out a future vent opening along the western collapsed margin of the caldera, where Fondi di Baia craters are located. Our results show that the Fondi di Baia craters are characterized by a medium-high release of hydrothermal fluids through fractures that mimic the main volcano-tectonic structures of this portion of the caldera. Moreover, results indicate that, in case of a future volcanic reactivation, these previous structures could as well be possible paths for magma ascent. We provide a first estimate of the total flux of CO 2 from Fondi di Baia diffuse degassing structure, quantified in 10.06 ± 1.07 t*d-1. FIGURE 1. (A): Structural-geological map of Campi Flegrei (modified from Vitale and Isaia, 2014) showing location of the study area and of the main degassing sites of Solfatara and Pisciarelli. (B) Main volcanic events in the CF.

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Volcanic-Hosted Resources

Wright,

Cas,

Giordano

2024

Springer Textbooks in Earth Sciences, Geography and Environment

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The sealing capacity of the cap rock above the Torre Alfina geothermal reservoir (Central Italy) revealed by soil CO2 flux investigations

Cited by 25 publications

References 21 publications

Modeling Highly Buoyant Flows in the Castel Giorgio: Torre Alfina Deep Geothermal Reservoir

Modeling Highly Buoyant Flows in the Castel Giorgio: Torre Alfina Deep Geothermal Reservoir

Multidisciplinary studies of diffuse soil CO2 flux, gas permeability, self-potential, soil temperature highlight the structural architecture of Fondi di Baia craters (Campi Flegrei caldera, Italy)

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