Monitoring Natural Subsidence and Seismicity in the Imperial Valley as a Basis for Evaluating Potential Impacts of Geothermal Production

摘要

Results of work done on potential geologic effects of geothermal development are discussed. The key geological issues in the Imperial Valley are the potential for significant subsidence and seismicity which could be induced by geothermal production. The major technical problem is to develop techniques to distinguish between natural and induced activity. In both subsidence and seismicity studies, the projects augment the existing network to obtain additional information in critical areas; thus, local subsidence detection networks were added to the regional networks. The U.S. Geological Survey seismograph network was augmented to increase sensitivity to small earthquakes near the Salton Sea. Techniques being used and initial results are summarized briefly. (ERA citation 03:054877)