Afar Dallol Drilling – ONset of sedimentary processes in an active rift basin (ADD-ON): Scientific drilling targets in the Afar (Ethiopia)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anneleen Foubert ◽  
Tesfaye Kidane ◽  
Derek Keir ◽  
Balemwal Atnafu ◽  
the ICDP ADD-ON Team
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Assessment ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Continental Drift ◽  
Sedimentary Facies ◽  
Geothermal System ◽  
Rift Basin ◽  
Deep Biosphere ◽  
Borehole Data ◽  
Scientific Drilling ◽  
Afar Triangle

<p>Since the early days of the continental drift theory, the Afar triangle developed into an ideal field laboratory where the onset of continental and future oceanic rifting can be studied in detail. The Danakil Depression is the northern portion of the Afar triangle, bordered to the west by the Ethiopian Plateau and to the East by the Danakil Horst, and characterised by active rifting since Oligocene times. Seismo-stratigraphic interpretations based on industrial seismic sections, core and borehole data evidence the presence of Pleistocene evaporite units to a depth of about 900 m below the Dallol salt pan (central Danakil Depression, northern Afar). However, to date no sub-salt sedimentary core records have been available from the central part of the rift basin filled with likely more than 1.5 km of sediments.</p><p>The ADD-ON drilling project aims to get access to the sub-salt sedimentary archives of the Danakil basin. The overall goal is to understand sedimentary facies evolution in an active rift setting paced by global environmental fluctuations and their interplay with volcano-tectonic events. Having future access to scientific core records will give new insights into (1) the mechanical understanding of intermittent and incipient basin dynamics in an initial extensive continental rift basin: from rifting towards the development of passive margins, (2) East African climatic changes and Hominin evolution, (3) the limits of the deep biosphere in extreme hypersaline and high-temperature environments below the salt deposits, (4) natural fluid flow in an active geothermal system, and (5) monitoring of active faults, earthquakes and volcanic events in remote areas. Moreover, deep scientific drilling in Afar will be necessary in the rapid assessment of geothermal potential, the quest for ground water resources and advanced Potash exploitation.</p>

Liquefaction susceptibility maps for the Aqaba–Elat region with projections of future hazards with sea-level rise

2020 ◽  
pp. qjegh2020-039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdel-Rahman A. Abueladas ◽  
Tina M. Niemi ◽  
Abdallah Al-Zoubi ◽  
Gideon Tibor ◽  
Mor Kanari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Gulf Of Aqaba ◽  
Susceptibility Map ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
Borehole Data ◽  
Ground Acceleration ◽  
Liquefaction Susceptibility ◽  
Susceptibility Maps

The cities of Aqaba, Jordan and Elat, Israel are vulnerable to seismic damage because they are built over the active faults of the Dead Sea Transform that are the source of historically destructive earthquakes. A liquefaction susceptibility map was generated for the Aqaba–Elat region. Borehole data from 149 locations and the water table depth were used to calculate effective overburden stress in the Seed–Idriss simplified method. The liquefaction analysis was based on applying a cyclic loading scenario with horizontal peak ground acceleration of 0.3 g in a major earthquake. The liquefaction map, compiled using a GIS platform, shows high and moderate liquefaction susceptibility zones along the northern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba that extend 800 m inland from the shoreline. In Aqaba, several hotels, luxury apartment complexes, archaeological sites, ports and commercial districts are located within high and moderate liquefaction zones. In Elat, the seaport and the coastal hotel district are located within a high susceptibility zone. Most residential areas, schools and hospitals in both cities are located within zones not susceptible to liquefaction based on the methods of this study. The total area with the potential to be liquefied along the Gulf of Aqaba is c. 10 km2. Given predictions for global sea-level, we ran three liquefaction models utilizing projected water table rises of 0.5, 1 and 2 m. These models yielded an increase in the area of high liquefaction ranging from 26 to 49%. Given the high potential of future earthquakes, our liquefaction susceptibility maps should help inform city officials for hazard mitigation planning.

scholarly journals Fifteen years of the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Program

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqin Xu ◽  
Jingsui Yang ◽  
Chengshan Wang ◽  
Zhisheng An ◽  
Haibing Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ultrahigh Pressure ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Deep Biosphere ◽  
Drilling Depth ◽  
Scientific Drilling ◽  
Crustal Rocks ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
15Th Anniversary ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Drilling Project

Abstract. Continental scientific drilling can be regarded as a telescope into the Earth's interior because it provides process insight and uncompromised samples of rocks, fluids, and even sampled from the deep biosphere from the Earth's surface to great depths. As one of the three founding members of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), ICDP China has made great achievements in many scientific drilling-related research fields. Based on the ICDP participation it attracted global attention of scientists and set up not only the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling (CCSD) Program in 2001 but also a growing number of ambitious drilling projects in the country. The 5158 m deep borehole of the CCSD project at Donghai County in the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terrain demonstrates that large amounts of crustal rocks of the South China Block have been subducted to at least 120 km, followed by rapid uplift. After successful completion of drilling at Donghai, several continental scientific drilling projects were conducted with funding of the Chinese government and partially with support of ICDP, resulting in a total drilling depth of more than 35 000 m. These projects encompass the Continental Environmental Scientific Drilling Program of China, the Scientific Drilling Project of Wenchuan Earthquake Fault Zone, the Continental Scientific Drilling Project of Cretaceous Songliao Basin, and the Program of Selected Continental Scientific Drilling and Experiments. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the ICDP and the 15th anniversary of the CCSD Program, this paper reviews the history and major progress of the CCSD Program.

scholarly journals Advancing subsurface biosphere and paleoclimate research: ECORD–ICDP–DCO–J-DESC–MagellanPlus Workshop Series Program Report

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 59-65
Author(s):  
H. J. Mills ◽  
J. de Leeuw ◽  
K.-U. Hinrichs ◽  
F. Inagaki ◽  
J. Kallmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Sample Collection ◽  
Deep Biosphere ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Scientific Drilling ◽  
Subsurface Biosphere ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Long Term Storage ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Drilling Operations ◽  
Available Technology

Abstract. The proper pre-drilling preparation, on-site acquisition and post-drilling preservation of high-quality subsurface samples are crucial to ensure significant progress in the scientifically and societally important areas of subsurface biosphere and paleoclimate research. Two of the four research themes of IODP and ICDP and one of the four research areas of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) focus on the subsurface biosphere. Increasing understanding of paleoclimate is a central goal of IODP and incorporated within the scope of the IMPRESS program, the successor of the IMAGES program. Therefore, the goal of our IODP–ICDP–DCO–J-DESC–MagellanPlus-sponsored workshop was to help advance deep biosphere and paleoclimate research by identifying needed improvements in scientific drilling planning and available technology, sample collection and initial analysis, and long-term storage of subsurface samples and data. Success in these areas will (a) avoid biological and other contamination during drilling, sampling, storage and shipboard/shore-based experiments; (b) build a repository and database of high-quality subsurface samples for microbiological and paleoclimate research available for the scientific community world-wide over the next decades; and (c) standardize, as much as possible, microbiological and paleoclimate drilling, sampling and storage workflows to allow results and data to be comparable across both space and time. A result of this workshop is the development and suggested implementation of new advanced methods and technologies to collect high-quality samples and data for the deep biosphere and paleoclimate scientific communities to optimize expected substantial progress in these fields. The members of this workshop will enhance communication within the scientific drilling community by crafting a handbook focused on pre-drilling, drilling and post-drilling operations.

scholarly journals IODP workshop: developing scientific drilling proposals for the Argentina Passive Volcanic Continental Margin (APVCM) – basin evolution, deep biosphere, hydrates, sediment dynamics and ocean evolution

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
Roger D. Flood ◽  
Roberto A. Violante ◽  
Thomas Gorgas ◽  
Ernesto Schwarz ◽  
Jens Grützner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Conveyor Belt ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Deep Biosphere ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Scientific Drilling ◽  
International Ocean Discovery Program

Abstract. The Argentine margin contains important sedimentological, paleontological and chemical records of regional and local tectonic evolution, sea level, climate evolution and ocean circulation since the opening of the South Atlantic in the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous as well as the present-day results of post-depositional chemical and biological alteration. Despite its important location, which underlies the exchange of southern- and northern-sourced water masses, the Argentine margin has not been investigated in detail using scientific drilling techniques, perhaps because the margin has the reputation of being erosional. However, a number of papers published since 2009 have reported new high-resolution and/or multichannel seismic surveys, often combined with multi-beam bathymetric data, which show the common occurrence of layered sediments and prominent sediment drifts on the Argentine and adjacent Uruguayan margins. There has also been significant progress in studying the climatic records in surficial and near-surface sediments recovered in sediment cores from the Argentine margin. Encouraged by these recent results, our 3.5-day IODP (International Ocean Discovery Program) workshop in Buenos Aires (8–11 September 2015) focused on opportunities for scientific drilling on the Atlantic margin of Argentina, which lies beneath a key portion of the global ocean conveyor belt of thermohaline circulation. Significant opportunities exist to study the tectonic evolution, paleoceanography and stratigraphy, sedimentology, and biosphere and geochemistry of this margin.

Insights into seismic activity of Central Adriatic offshore (Italy) evidenced by the 2013-2014, Conero seismic sequence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Maria Adinolfi ◽  
Elvira Battimelli ◽  
Ortensia Amoroso ◽  
Paolo Capuano
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Activity ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Probabilistic Approach ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Hydrocarbon Exploration ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Seismic Sequence ◽  
Borehole Data ◽  
Fault Plane Solutions ◽  
Orogenic Belts

<p>The Adriatic region has always attracted the interests of researchers involved in the study of the tectonic processes that controlled the evolution of the Alpine-Mediterranean area. It has been considered as an undeformed area, an aseismic, rigid block located between two active orogenic belts, the Apennines and External Dinarides thrust belts. Nevertheless, new scientific evidences reveal a complex structural framework in which active faults are capable to produce seismic activity not only along the borders of Adriatic Sea, but also in the offshore areas. In fact, the outer thrusts of Apennines and Dinarides orogenic belts propagated from the coasts to the offshore areas originating active, NW-SE trending anticlines and thrust faults that affects the Plio-Quaternary sequences.</p><p>Defining the seismotectonics of Adriatic domain and studying the active tectonics of the area with its seismogenic potential represent a challenge because the sea prevents direct observation of main geological and structural lineaments and the deployment of standard seismic networks for a more accurate analysis of seismicity. Despite the existence of new evidences, derived from seismic profiles and borehole data, by hydrocarbon exploration, correct seismic hazard estimates of Adriatic Sea require original and accurate data on the seismic activity that can allow to depict the number, size and geometry of seismogenic sources.</p><p>In this work, we focused our attention on the seismic sequence, consisting of about 230 events,  which occurred along the Central Adriatic coast, in the Conero offshore, during the 2013-2104, with a M<sub>L</sub> 4.9 mainshock located at 20 km far away from city of Ancona, the main city of Marche region. After a careful and innovative selection of the data recorded from the Italian National Seismic Network, operated by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, the earthquakes were relocated according to a probabilistic approach. By the inversion of the polarity of the P-wave first arrivals, the focal mechanisms were estimated and finally the local magnitudes were re-calculated. Moreover, in order verify if there has been a migration of seismicity with the activation of different faults during the seismic sequence, the analysis of spatio-temporal evolution of the seismic sequence was performed. Preliminary results show that the seismic sequence was originated mainly at small depths (< 10 km) along NW-SE trending thrust fault structures as evidenced by fault plane solutions, consistent with NE-SW horizontal, maximum compression of the outer front of Apennines thrust belt, still active in the Central Adriatic offshore.</p>

Passive monitoring and 3D imaging of the bedrock response to the 2018 Espoo/Helsinki geothermal stimulation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Taylor ◽  
Gregor Hillers
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Velocity ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Body Wave ◽  
Coda Wave ◽  
Geothermal System ◽  
Enhanced Geothermal Systems ◽  
Induced Earthquakes ◽  
Borehole Data ◽  
Passive Monitoring ◽  
Short Period

<p>In recent years several deep geothermal energy projects have been forced to close following the occurrence of large seismic events associated with the stimulation of the surrounding bedrock. In 2018, an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) experiment performed in Helsinki, Finland concluded with no seismicity exceeding the threshold magnitude and thus provides an intriguing showcase for future stimulation experiments in similar environments. During the 49 days of the experiment, the five-stage injection of ~18,000 cubic meters water stimulated many thousands of earthquakes. Like in all previous stimulation cases the earthquake data constitute the primary source for the assessment of the scientific and operational aspects of the reservoir response. Here we apply ambient noise based monitoring and imaging techniques to data collected by 100 short period three-component stations that were organized in three large arrays consisting of nominally 25 stations, in addition to three small four-station arrays, and 10 single stations, during a 100 day period. We compute daily nine-component noise correlations between all stations pairs except for the intra-array pairs in a frequency range between 0.5 and 10 Hz. We measure waveform delays within our correlation functions as a function of frequency and lag time using the Continuous Wavelet Transform. We then invert these observations using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method to obtain the temporal variation in seismic velocity dv/v during the injection. By exploiting the variable spatial sensitivities of the surface- and body-wave components at different coda-wave lapse times and frequencies, we are able to image the medium response to the stimulation in both time and space. We compare the estimated seismic velocity variations to other observations such as H<sup>2</sup>/V<sup>2</sup>, as well as dv/v observations obtained from collocated borehole data. Importantly, we also compare the observed medium response to seismicity and pumping parameters. Our results suggest that we are able to resolve medium changes that are not solely associated with the induced earthquakes, but also potential signatures of fluid content or pressure changes in the bedrock. The combined observations of seismicity, pumping parameters and dv/v changes collected in this experiment can further advance passive monitoring techniques in the context of enhanced geothermal systems, and facilitate a more comprehensive analysis of fluid-rock interactions that may occur aseismically.</p>

scholarly journals Borehole research in New York State can advance utilization of low-enthalpy geothermal energy, management of potential risks, and understanding of deep sedimentary and crystalline geologic systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 75-91
Author(s):  
Teresa Jordan ◽  
Patrick Fulton ◽  
Jefferson Tester ◽  
David Bruhn ◽  
Hiroshi Asanuma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
New York State ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Geothermal System ◽  
Geothermal Heat ◽  
Scientific Drilling ◽  
Human Perturbations ◽  
Discontinuous Rock ◽  
Pressure Stress

Abstract. In January 2020, a scientific borehole planning workshop sponsored by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program was convened at Cornell University in the northeastern United States. Cornell is planning to drill test wells to evaluate the potential to use geothermal heat from depths in the range of 2700–4500 m and rock temperatures of about 60 to 120 ∘C to heat its campus buildings. Cornell encourages the Earth sciences community to envision how these boreholes can also be used to advance high-priority subsurface research questions. Because nearly all scientific boreholes on the continents are targeted to examine iconic situations, there are large gaps in understanding of the “average” intraplate continental crust. Hence, there is uncommon and widely applicable value to boring and investigating a “boring” location. The workshop focused on designing projects to investigate the coupled thermal–chemical–hydrological–mechanical workings of continental crust. Connecting the practical and scientific goals of the boreholes are a set of currently unanswered questions that have a common root: the complex relationships among pore pressure, stress, and strain in a heterogeneous and discontinuous rock mass across conditions spanning from natural to human perturbations and short to long timescales. The need for data and subsurface characterization vital for decision-making around the prospective Cornell geothermal system provides opportunities for experimentation, measurement, and sampling that might lead to major advances in the understanding of hydrogeology, intraplate seismicity, and fluid/chemical cycling. Subsurface samples could also enable regional geological studies and geobiology research. Following the workshop, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded funds for a first exploratory borehole, whose proposed design and research plan rely extensively on the ICDP workshop recommendations.

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