Near-Surface CO2 Monitoring and Analysis to Detect Hidden Geothermal Systems

摘要

Hidden geothermal systems are systems devoid of obvious surface hydrothermal manifestations. Emissions of moderate-to-low solubility gases may be one of the primary near-surface signals from these systems. We investigate the potential for CO2 detection and monitoring below and above ground in the near-surface environment as an approach to exploration targeting hidden geothermal systems. We focus on CO2 because it is the dominant noncondensible gas species in most geothermal systems and has moderate solubility in water. We carried out numerical simulations of a CO2 migration scenario to calculate the magnitude of expected fluxes and concentrations. Our results show that CO2 concentrations can reach high levels in the shallow subsurface even for relatively low geothermal source CO2 fluxes. However, once CO2 seeps out of the ground into the atmospheric surface layer, winds are effective at dispersing CO2 seepage. In natural ecological systems in the absence of geothermal gas emissions, near-surface CO2 fluxes and concentrations are predominantly controlled by CO2 uptake by photosynthesis, production by root respiration, microbial decomposition of soil/subsoil organic matter, groundwater degassing, and exchange with the atmosphere.