IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v86y2016icp1295-1307.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Application of diffuse gas flux measurements and soil gas analysis to geothermal exploration and environmental monitoring: Example from the Reykjanes geothermal field, SW Iceland

Author

Listed:
  • Fridriksson, Thráinn
  • Padrón, Eleazar
  • Óskarsson, Finnbogi
  • Pérez, Nemesio M.

Abstract

Soil gas geochemistry and diffuse CO2 flux from soil, together with gas concentrations in 7 production wells and 10 steam vents in the Reykjanes geothermal field (Iceland), were studied with the aim of: 1) studying the potential use of the CO2/He ratio in soil gas to constrain CO2 retention in calcite in the bedrock; and 2) quantifying the effect of 100 MWe power production from the Reykjanes geothermal reservoir on surface activity. The presence of biogenic CO2 in the soil gas prevented the use of the CO2/He ratio for the quantification of CO2 retention in calcite. The CO2/He ratio in about 20 soil gas samples was, however, low and consistent with CO2 retention. Our results suggest that detailed soil gas and soil temperature mapping may provide excellent information for defining drilling targets. The surface activity in the Reykjanes geothermal field increased noticeably after the commissioning of the 100 MWe Reykjanes Power Plant in 2006. When increased steam flow from steam vents is taken into account the total increase in surface activity in Reykjanes between 2004 and 2007 is of the order of 50%.

Suggested Citation

  • Fridriksson, Thráinn & Padrón, Eleazar & Óskarsson, Finnbogi & Pérez, Nemesio M., 2016. "Application of diffuse gas flux measurements and soil gas analysis to geothermal exploration and environmental monitoring: Example from the Reykjanes geothermal field, SW Iceland," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1295-1307.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:86:y:2016:i:c:p:1295-1307
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.09.034
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096014811530313X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2015.09.034?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alonso, Mar & Pérez, Nemesio M. & Hernández, Pedro A. & Padrón, Eleazar & Melián, Gladys & Rodríguez, Fátima & Padilla, Germán & Barrancos, José & Asensio-Ramos, María & Fridriksson, Thráinn & Sumino,, 2022. "Thermal energy and diffuse 4He and 3He degassing released in volcanic-geothermal systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 17-31.
    2. Rodríguez, Fátima & Pérez, Nemesio M. & Melián, Gladys V. & Padrón, Eleazar & Hernández, Pedro A. & Asensio-Ramos, María & Padilla, Germán D. & Barrancos, José & D’Auria, Luca, 2021. "Exploration of deep-seated geothermal reservoirs in the Canary Islands by means of soil CO2 degassing surveys," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1017-1028.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:86:y:2016:i:c:p:1295-1307. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.