Microseismic Monitoring for Evidence of Geothermal Heat in the Capital District of New York. Final Report, Phases 1-3

摘要

The seismic monitoring work of the geothermal project was initiated for the purpose of determining more exactly the relationship between seismicity and the postulated geothermal and related activity in the Albany-Saratoga Springs area in upstate New York. The seismic monitoring aspect of this work consisted of setting up and operating a network of seven seismograph stations within and around the study area capable of detecting and locating small earthquakes. To supplement the evidence from present day seismic activity, a list of all known historical and early instrumental earthquakes was compiled and improved from original sources for a larger region centered on the study area. Additional field work was done to determine seismic velocities of P and S phases by special recording of quarry blasts. The velocity results were used both as an aid to improve earthquake locations based on computer programs and to make inferences about the existence of temperature anomalies, and hence geothermal potential, at depths beneath the study area. Finally, the level in the continuous background earth vibration, microseisms, was measured throughout the study area to test a possibility that a relationship may exist at the surface between the level in microseisms and the geothermal or related activity. The observed seismic activity within the study area, although considerably higher (two to three times) than inferred from the historical and early instrumental data, is still not only low for a potential geothermal area but appears to be related to coherent regional tectonic stresses and not to the proposed more localized geothermal activity reflected in the mineralized, CO sub 2 rich spring discharge. (ERA citation 08:048925)