| Title | SIM-CRUST: Seismic Imaging and Monitoring of the Upper Crust: Exploring the Potential Low-Enthalpy Geothermal Resources of Ireland |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicola PIANA AGOSTINETTI, Andrea LICCIARDI |
| Year | 2015 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | Seismology, Local Earthquake Tomography, Receiver Function, Crustal Structure |
| Abstract | The SIM-CRUST project is focused on the development and application of passive seismic techniques to geothermal research. Controlled-source seismology has been widely used as a standard tool for geothermal exploration in the past decades. However, attenuation and scattering from complex, shallow crustal structures can blur the reconstructed image of the subsurface due to the low-energy content of the sources. Passive seismics make use of natural seismicity to explore the subsurface elastic properties. Both local and distant earthquakes can be used to evaluate seismic velocity at depth, and to constrain the presence of seismic anisotropy, which relates to both fluids and cracks in the rock matrix. The main activities of the project are focused on two widely used techniques: the Local Earthquake Tomography and the teleseismic Receiver Function. The former technique is based on the analysis of microseismicity (Mw less than 3.0) within small (D less than 40km) regions and can be used both to build 3D model and to monitor the time-evolution of the seismic properties of the investigate volumes. The latter technique makes use of teleseismic converted waves to map sharp velocity contrasts at depth (e.g. the sediment-basement interface) with a resolving power of some hundreds of meters. The SIM-CRUST project comprises the development of two high-density (inter-station distance less than 10km) seismic networks to explore the Donegal granite region and the Dublin basin. |