Swiss halt geothermal experiment after tremor (Reuters)

[Eugene]

Swiss halt geothermal experiment after tremor
09 Dec 2006 22:41:21 GMT
Source: Reuters

ZURICH, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Swiss engineers halted an experiment to extract
geothermal heat from deep below ground after it set off a small earthquake
in the nearby city of Basel, the Swiss news agency SDA said on Saturday.

The tremor late on Friday measured 3.4 on the Richter scale and caused
widespread fear, prompting about 1,000 calls to emergency services, but
caused no injuries or serious damage, the agency said.

Managers apologised for any fears aroused by the mishap, which occurred
after water was injected at high pressure into a five-km-deep (16,000-
feet-deep) borehole, but said the experiment posed no danger, SDA reported.

-snip-

The 80-million-franc ($66.95 million) experiment, known as "deep heat mining",
is designed to extract enough super-heated water to drive a power plant
providing electricity for 10,000 homes and heat for 2,700 others.

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09572813.htm

Related story: Man:made tremor shakes Basel - NZZ/Swissinfo

[Eric J in MN]

1. We caused an earthquake, but don't worry...

...we know what we're doing.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

[Ian David]

3. It's not a real earthquake, it's a tremor. It didn't move tectonic plates. n/t

[Poll_Blind]

6. Thank you for the clarification- I wasn't thining about the distinction....

...and it's an important one to make. I'd really like to see more of this specific type of alternative energy explored. It holds a lot of benefits, IMO.

PB

[NNadir]

2. Is that really possible?

I have never heard of such a thing.

[havocmom]

4. Wasn't there some really deep drilling project in the area of the quake

that triggered the tsunami a couple years ago? Seem to recall something about some ultra deep drill testing for something in that area prior to the rampaging of nature.

Wonder if the earth wants to shake off us destructive parasites sometimes.

[Poll_Blind]

7. That would be a new one on me. I hadn't heard of anything...

...like that but if you've got a link, post it- I'd be interested to read how that works. The Tsunami was caused by a very large earthquake, like a magnitude 8-9 IIRC, and I can't imagine that a movement that massive could be caused by drilling. Drilling might help the process along but I'd think, based on the little geology I know, that there's have to be an aweful lot of pressure built up through some tectonic force that it's releasing as opposed to actually causing the earthquake.

PB

[havocmom]

9. There was mention of drilling

just did a search and came up with many hits. Some probably pure silliness, but there was speculation and concern, as I recall, that some drilling didn't help matters, but not actually tripping the earthquake

http://www.ask.com/web?q=tsunami+%2B+drilling

[smirkymonkey]

15. Did you see "An Inconvenient Truth"?

At one point they showed these vertical fissures in the ice that would fill up with water which would then sink down to the bottom of the glacier, lubricating the ice mass on top and causing it to collapse into the ocean (well, that's my laymans explanation, anyway.)

I wonder if something similar can happen with drilling holes filling up with water and affecting the motion of tectonic plates (note: I am in no way implying that the glacial activity mimics plate activity, but it made me think that it could somehow affect the pressure closer to the earth's crust)

Any seismologist care to weigh in? Is there any way at all that drilling can affect the plates beneath - not directly, but indirectly?

[Poll_Blind]

16. Hrm, interesting. I see what you mean. They did mention that...

...the water was under pressure. Very interesting...thanks!

PB

[kestrel91316]

13. I think I heard that on Art Bell's radio show, but the source was

somewhat less than credible............

Imagine that.

[Odin2005]

17. Everything that comes out of Art's mouth is less then credible...

[kestrel91316]

21. Art doesn't believe half of what his GUESTS spout, but he sure knows

his target audience!

He seems very intelligent, and has a decent allotment of healthy skepticism. He just doesn't challenge his wackier guests, but that's not his style.

George Noory, OTOH, is a dumbass who has bought into a lot of mumbo-jumbo...........

[Odin2005]

23. I knew Art was loony when I read his "Superstorm" book (the inspiration for The Day After Tomorrow).

Changes to the climate coming from the shutdown of the North Atlantic Current would cause decades to happen.

[kestrel91316]

24. Remember, Whitley Strieber is halfway responsible for that

book, and he's REALLY loony.

BTW, nobody really know what would happen if the NAC shut down. We don't have any viable models for the scenario we're heading into. They took some artistic license for the sake of plot in the book and movie.

[Porcupine]

11. Earthquakes are common at geothermal sites

At the Geysers in N. California there are probably a few nearby 3 point earthquakes a year. In most of California an earthquake that small doesn't even rank as conversation material. Even less so in Lake County or around the Calistoga area that is geothermally active.

Of course we're used to it. Earthquakes cause economic disruptions on occasion but they kill far less Californians in a decade than traffic accidents in a month. Of course one big one could change all that.

[kestrel91316]

12. In the 70s when I was in CO there was a series of quakes near

Golden that I'm pretty sure they decided were a direct result of some sort of human activity - drilling, injecting, or some such.

[Nihil]

19. Is that the "Golden" near Denver?

If so, I found refs for the 60s but not the 70s ... possibly related?

1962: (http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=208119)
"For example, in 1962 the city of Denver, Colo., began to experience
earthquakes for the first time in its history. The discovery was made
that the tremors correlated in time with the pumping of waste fluids
into deep wells at an arsenal east of the city. When pumping was
discontinued, the earthquakes persisted for a while and then ceased."

1967: (http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2001/A/200110140.html)
"A year later, three geologists from the US Geological Survey put that
theory to the test. They pumped water into the ground at an oilfield
in Rangely, Colorado, and recorded seismic activity in the area.
They found that within a kilometre of the injection site the water
triggered an average of 28 mini-quakes per month. When they stopped
pumping it in, the quakes dropped to 1 per month. For the first time,
earthquake control seemed possible."

The first one (Denver) was the one I remembered from my geology coursework
but there have been related reports since.

[kestrel91316]

20. Yeah, that was it. Pumping nuclear and toxic waste into the ground

at the Rocky Mtn Arsenal............not such a good idea.

The Arsenal is now shut down, and I hear they have made a giant nature preserve out of it after the cleanup.

[Poll_Blind]

5. I still favor the technology. Nuclear power, for instance, is also...

...just heating water, turning it into steam, and turning a turbine with it. I like taking the nuclear part out of the system. Sounds like they have to understand a little more what's going on 3 miles below the surface and how that impacts the area.

We could provide power for a looooooooooooooooooooong time using the heat from the Earth's core. Too bad that when there's kinks all the good china rattles. Hopefully it would only be as bad as that.

PB

[Phrogman]

8. All of our electricity is geo-thermal and inexpensive

Small occasional tremors are a small price to pay for such big benefits.
PM
Negros

[kestrel91316]

14. Pinatubo Power, right?

[Phrogman]

18. Actually the Palimpinon Geothermal Project, but I did help build the

Mt.Mayon Geothermal in Bicol.

[kestrel91316]

22. I'm quite impressed that a poor third-world country like the Phillippines

has developed geothermal to the extent that it has.......

Wish everybody who could, would. The US is SOOOOOO behind the eight ball. Sigh.

[enough]

10. Reminds me of Jonathan Franzen's 1992 novel called "Strong Motion."

The plot hinged on an event very similar to this. When I read it, I thought it was fantasy.