Abstract
Geothermal energy potential is usually discussed in the context of conventional or engineered systems and at the scale of an individual reservoir. Whereas exploration for conventional reservoirs has been relatively easy, with expressions of resource found close to or even at the surface, exploration for non-conventional systems relies on temperature inherently increasing with depth and searching for favourable geological environments that maximise this increase. To utilitise the information we do have, we often assimilate available exploration data with models that capture the physics of the dominant underlying processes. Here, we discuss computational modelling approaches to exploration at a regional or crust scale, with application to geothermal reservoirs within basins or systems of basins. Target reservoirs have (at least) appropriate temperature, permeability and are at accessible depths. We discuss the software development approach that leads to effective use of the tool Underworld. We explore its role in the process of modelling, understanding computational error, importing and exporting geological knowledge as applied to the geological system underpinning the Guangdong Province, China.
Similar content being viewed by others
References Cited
Balay, S., Eijkhout, V., Gropp, W. D., et al., 1997. Efficient Management of Parallelism in Object Oriented Numerical Software Libraries. In: Arge, E., Bruaset, A. M., Langtan-gen, H. P., eds., Modern Software Tools in Scientific Computing. Birkhauser, Boston. 163–202
Batory, D., Sarvela, J. N., Rauschmayer, A., 2003. Scaling Step-Wise Refinement. In: Proceedings of the 25th international Conference on Software Engineering. International Conference on Software Engineering. IEEE Computer Society, Portland, May 3–10, 2003. 187–197
Capitanio, F. A., Faccenna, C., Zlotnik, S., et al., 2011. Subduc-tion Dynamics and the Origin of Andean Orogeny and Bolivian Orocline. Nature, 480: 83–86. doi:10.1038/nature10596
Chopra, P., Holgate, F., 2005. A GIS Analysis of Temperature in the Australian Crust. In: Proceedings World Geothermal Congress, Antalya, April 24–29, 2005
Danis, C., 2014. Use of Groundwater Temperature Data in Geothermal Exploration: The Example of Sydney Basin, Australia. Hydrogeology Journal, 22: 87–106. doi:10.1007/s10040-013-1070-4
Danis, C., O’Neill, C., Quenette, S., 2012. Is It Hot enough down there? Assessing Geothermal Potential in the Sydney-Gunnedah-Bowen Basin. Australian Geothermal Energy Conference, Sydney. 14–16
Farr, T. G., Rosen, P. A., Caro, E., et al., 2007. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Rev. Geophys., 45: RG2004. doi:10.1029/2005rg000183
Gropp, W. D., Lusk, E., 1996. User’s Guide for mpich, a Portable Implementation of MPI. ANL/MCS-TM-ANL-96/6 Rev D, Mathematics and Computer Science Division
Honza, E., Fujioka, K., 2004. Formation of Arcs and Back-Arc Basins Inferred from the Tectonic Evolution of Southeast Asia since the Late Cretaceous. Tectonophysics, 384: 23–53. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2004.02.006
Kiczales, G., Lamping, J., Mendhekar, A., et al., 1997. Aspect-Oriented Programming. In: Aksit, M., Matsuoka, S., eds., Proceedings of the European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, and New York. 1241: 220–242
Lafaurie, B., Nardone, C., Scardovelli, R., et al., 1994. Modelling, Merging and Fragmentation in Multiphase Flows with SURFER. Journal of Computing Physics, 113: 134–147
Li, C., van der Hilst, R. D., 2010. Structure of the Upper Mantle and Transition Zone beneath Southeast Asia from Traveltime Tomography. J. Geophys. Res., 115(B7). doi:10.1029/2009JB006882
Liu, T. Y., Wu, Z. C., Zhan, Y. L., et al., 2007. Wavelet Multi-Scale Decompostition of Magnetic Anomaly and Its Application in Searching for Deep-Buried Minerals in Crisis Mines: A Case Study from Daye Iron Mines. Earth Science—Journal of China University of Geosciences, 32: 31–41 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Ma, X. H., 1987. Outline of Chinese Lithospheric Dynamics. Geological Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese)
Mallet, J. L., 1992. GOcad: A Computer Aided Design Program for Geological Applications. In: Turner, K., ed., Three-Dimensional Modelling with Geoscientific Information Systems: Nato ASI Series C. Kluwer Acad. Publ., Dordrecht. 354: 123–141
Meixner, A. J., Holgate, F. L., 2009. The Cooper Basin Region 3D MapVersion 1: A Search For Hot Buried Granites. Geoscience Australia, Record 2009/15
Monaghan, J. J., 1992. Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 30: 534–574
Moresi, L., Dufour, F., Mulhaus, H. B., 2003. A Langrangian Integration Point Finite Element Method for Large Deformation Modeling of Viscoelastic Geomaterials. Journal of Computing Physics, 184: 476–497
Moresi, L., Quenette, S., Lemiale, V., et al., 2007. Computational Approaches to Studying Non-Linear Dynamics of the Crust and Mantle. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 163: 69–82
Musson, A., Harrison, B., Gordon, K., et al., 2009. Thermal Thinking: Optimal Targeting for Australian Geothermal Explorers. In: Budd, A. R., Gurgenchi, H., eds., Proceedings of the 2009 Australian Geothermal Energy Conference. Geoscience Australia, Record 2009/35
Pavlis, N. K., Holmes, S. A., Kenyon, S. C., et al., 2008. An Earth Gravitational Model to Degree 2160: EGM 2008. General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union, Vienna
Pohl, K., Böckle, G., van der Linden, F., 2005. Software Product Line Engineering—Foundations, Principles, and Techniques. Springer
Quenette, S., 2014. Software Evolution and Computational Performance—The Semantics of Software as an Inverse Problem: [Dissertation]. Monash University, Melbourne
Quenette, S., Hodkinson, L., 2009. StgDomain—Scalable Parallel Domain Software Components for Particle-in-Cell Finite Element Methods. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, 22(12): 1593–1603
Quenette, S., Moresi, L., 2010. Models Based Experimentation: Numerical Modelling of 3D Basin Scale Architecture Heat & Fluid Flow. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, December 10, 2010, San Francisco
Quenette, S., Moresi, L., Sunter, P. D., et al., 2007. Explaining StGermain: An Aspect Orientated Rnvironment for Building Extensible Computational Mechanics Modelling Software. HIPS Workshop, Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium, Proceedings of the 19th IEEE International. 210. doi:10.1109/IPDPS.2007.370400
Somerville, M., Wyborn, D., Chopra, P. N., et al., 1994. Hot Dry Rock Feasibility Study. Energy Research and Development Corporation (ERDC) Report, 94/243, ERDC, Canberra
Spector, A., Grant, F. S., 1970. Statistical Models for Interpreting Aeromagnetic Data. Geophysics, 35: 293–302
Stegman, D. R., Moresi, L., Turnbull, R., et al., 2008. Next Generation Visualization Framework for High-Performance Computational Geodynamics. Visual Geosciences, 13(1): 71–84
Sulsky, D., Zhou, S. J., Schreyer, H. L., 1995. Application of a Particle-in-Cell Method to Solid Mechanics. Comput. Phys. Commun., 87: 236–252
USGS, 2004. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Global Land Cover Facility, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
Wan, T., 2011. The Tectonics of China: Data, Maps and Evolution. Higher Education Press, Beijing. 173
Wand, M., Kiczales, G., Dutchyn, C., 2004. “A Semantics for Advice and Dynamic Join Points in Aspect-Oriented Programming,” ACM Trans. Programming Languages and Systems, 26(5): 890–910
Yang, W. C., Shi, Z. Q., Hou, Z. Z., et al., 2001. Discrete Wavelet Transform for Multiple Decompostion of Gravity Anomalies. Chinese Journal of Geophysics, 44: 534–541
Zhang, B. T., Wu, J. Q., Ling, H. F., et al., 2007. Estimate of Influence of U-Th-K Radiogenic Heat on Cooling Process of Granitic Melt and Its Geological Implications. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences, 37: 155–159
Zhang, Z., Xu, T., Zhao, B., et al., 2013. Systematic Variations in Seismic Velocity and Reflection in the Crust of Cathaysia: New Constraints on Intraplate Orogeny in the South China Continent. Gondwana Research, 24(3): 902–917
Zhou, L., Xie, J., Shen, W., et al., 2012. The Structure of the Crust and Uppermost Mantle beneath South China from Ambient Noise and Earthquake Tomography. Geophysical Journal International, 189(3): 1565–1583
Zhou, X., Sun, T., Shen, W., et al., 2006. Petrogenesis of Mesozoic Granitoids and Volcanic Rocks in South China: A Response to Tectonic Evolution. Episodes, 29(1): 26
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Quenette, S., Xi, Y., Mansour, J. et al. Underworld-GT applied to Guangdong, a tool to explore the geothermal potential of the crust. J. Earth Sci. 26, 78–88 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-015-0517-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-015-0517-z