| Title | Introducing SEEBASE, a Bottom-up Basement Interpretation and Geothermal Model of the Globe |
|---|---|
| Authors | T.N. Debacker, L. Pryer, P. Henley, J. Blevin, M. den Hartog |
| Year | 2026 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | |
| Abstract | Geognostics’ SEEBASE® is a global geospatial model of basement and basin evolution developed through the iterative interpretation, integration, and calibration of a wide range of geophysical and geological datasets. The bottom-up SEEBASE workflow characterises basin systems starting from an understanding of basement and its first-order control on the architecture of an evolving basin. It provides a robust geological interpretation, and foundation dataset, to support ongoing exploration, data acquisition, and basin modelling across a range of resource sectors including conventional energy, geothermal, helium, natural hydrogen and deep groundwater exploration. Based on the SEEBASE model, developed over 30 years in the oil and gas sector, SEEBASE Geothermal is a geological framework comprising an upward series of key crustal elements required in full crustal regional-scale geothermal modelling. This model differs from conventional ‘top-down’ heat flow studies, which often rely on downward-extrapolated subsurface measurements, to instead build a conductive heat flow model from the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary to the surface, including key geological elements such as the contribution of radiogenic heat production and the transient heat flow of different relatively young tectonothermal events (e.g., rifting, magmatic events). The SEEBASE Geothermal model is comprised of custom databases, interpretation workflow, software, and geospatial geoprocessing tools, allowing for rapid iteration and integration of new data and insights from further studies. Content, workflow and advantages of SEEBASE and the SEEBASE Geothermal model are presented by means of the Central Europe SEEBASE model, funded by OMV and released for public use, and other examples from around the world. |