4 ms·

What the article doesn’t address is the potential for earthquakes. I thought that was the limiting factor in a lot of deep geothermal drilling? Didn’t Iceland r

• giarc 4y ago
  Perhaps you are thinking of fracking? In fracking they dig deep, horizontal wells and inject a water/sand mix into the well to fracture the rock. This method has resulted in measurable earthquakes.
  • azinman2 4y ago
    This is one example of a geothermal system leading to earthquakes: https://grapevine.is/news/2020/11/16/earthquakes-linked-to-power-plant-activity/ https://grapevine.is/news/2020/11/16/earthquakes-linked-to-p...
• skagenpilot 4y ago
  It depends on the rock formation the project is targeting. If one targets a steam reservoir or a sedimentary rock formation, generaly things are ok (save for this one case in Germany where Earth started to rise [0]). In case you target hot (dry) rock that you need to fracture to increase the heat exchange surface, then more often than not you are going to induce seismicity. It's been well studied in Alsace and some small induced earthquake was felt in Strasbourg and attributed to nearby geothermal developments [1]. [0] https://m.dw.com/en/green-good-intentions-cause-chaos-in-two-german-towns/a-4473382 https://m.dw.com/en/green-good-intentions-cause-chaos-in-two... [1] https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/geoscience/articles/10.5802/crgeos.71/ https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/geoscience/artic...