Value of MT inversions for geothermal exploration: Accounting for multiple interpretations of field data & determining new drilling locations

•We present a value of information analysis for MT data for locating high steam flow regions of a geothermal resource, using data collected from Darajat.•Darajat geothermal field has an electrically conductive, smectite clay cap that is indicative of the boundaries of the resources.•We demonstrate h...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geothermics 2017-03, Vol.66 (C), p.13-22
Main Authors: Trainor-Guitton, Whitney J., Hoversten, G. Michael, Nordquist, Gregg, Intani, Rindu Grahabhakti
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clay
Conductivity
Drilling
Electrical conductivity
Electrical resistivity
Exploration
Exploratory drilling
Geophysics
Geothermal power
Geothermal resources
Inversions
Magnetotellurics
Resource assessment
Steam electric power generation
Steam flow
Three dimensional models
Value of information
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•We present a value of information analysis for MT data for locating high steam flow regions of a geothermal resource, using data collected from Darajat.•Darajat geothermal field has an electrically conductive, smectite clay cap that is indicative of the boundaries of the resources.•We demonstrate how these VOI evaluations can be used to guide future drilling locations. We present a value of information (VOI) analysis for magnetotelluric (MT) data for locating high steam flow regions of a geothermal resource. The high electrical conductivity feature in volcanic geothermal settings, known as the clay cap, can be indicative of geothermal alteration occurring just above the resource. We demonstrate how several alternative interpretations of the clay cap from one 3D electrical conductivity model can be used to estimate the value of geophysical information. Our results indicate that the final VOI estimate was not strongly dependent on the different interpretations of the clay cap. Additionally, we demonstrate how these VOI evaluations can be used to guide future drilling locations.
ISSN:0375-6505
1879-3576
DOI:10.1016/j.geothermics.2016.11.009