| Title | Identification of Environmental Units for Geothermal Exploration Areas Using Geographic Information Systems |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marco A. GARCIA-ZARATE, J. Claudia LEYVA-AGUILERA, Zayre I. GONZALEZ-ACEVEDO, Sergio E. SANCHEZ-DE LOS SANTOS |
| Year | 2020 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | Landscape ecology, tropical impact assessment, geothermal energy, geographic information systems (GIS) |
| Abstract | Geographic information systems GIS have been used to evaluate environmental units EU because they allow the analysis of spatial impact scenarios of development projects. In particular for geothermal projects GIS provides the spatial representation of environmental impacts, provide a tool for landscape ecology research, facilitate the analysis of the effects of anthropogenic activities on environmental processes and make it possible to model changes on the territory with socio-ecological indicators for a hypothetical geothermal development project. In this work the UA concept builds a reference framework for data retrieval through some common landscape pattern metrics to analyze dispersion versus development scenarios and their effect on the landscape pattern, independently of land use changes due to fragmentation and drills from previous exploration activities. In addition, landscape metrics identified the importance of paying attention to the impacts of degradation caused by anthropogenic activities within the area. The use of these landscape pattern metrics allows the use of different evaluation algorithms according to different contexts or evaluation paradigms of the same reference system, independently of changes in land use over time. This document illustrates the basic concepts on which the construction of scenarios by landscape metrics is based and their application for ecological planning, the evaluation of social and environmental affects, as well as for the management and preservation of ecosystems in the face of possible geothermal power plant developments. |