TY - JOUR A1 - Cacace, Mauro A1 - Kaiser, Bjoern Onno A1 - Lewerenz, Bjoern A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena T1 - Geothermal energy in sedimentary basins : what we can learn from regional numerical models N2 - Understanding the interactions between the different processes that control the geothermal and fluid flow fields in sedimentary basins is crucial for exploitation of geothermal energy. Numerical models provide predictive and feasible information for a correct assessment of geothermal resources especially in areas where data acquisition is demanding. Here, we present results from numerical efforts to characterize the thermal structure and its interaction with the fluid system for the area of the North East German Basin (NEGB). The relative impact of the different (diffusive and advective) processes affecting the hydrothermal setting of the basin are investigated by means of three- dimensional numerical simulations. Lithospheric-scale numerical models are evaluated to understand the specific thermal signature of the relevant factors influencing the present-day conductive geothermal field in the NEGB. Shallow and deep structural controls on the thermal configuration of the basin are addressed and quantified. Interaction between the resulting thermal field and the active fluid system is investigated by means of three-dimensional simulations of coupled fluid flow and heat transport. Factors influencing stability and reliability of modeling predictions are discussed. The main effort is to build a physically consistent model for the basin which integrates the impacts of thermal gradients on the regional fluid regime and their coupling with the main geological units defining the basin. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00092819 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemer.2010.05.017 SN - 0009-2819 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bloecher, Mando Guido A1 - Cacace, Mauro A1 - Lewerenz, Bjoern A1 - Zimmermann, Günter T1 - Three dimensional modelling of fractured and faulted reservoirs : framework and implementation N2 - Modelling of coupled physical processes in fractured and faulted media is a major challenge for the geoscience community. Due to the complexity related to the geometry of real fracture networks and fault systems, modelling studies have been mainly restricted either to two dimensional cases or to simplified orthogonal fracture systems consisting of vertical and horizontal fractures. An approach to generate three dimensional meshes for realistic fault geometries is presented. The method enables representation of faults in an arbitrary incline as two dimensional planes within a three dimensional, stratified porous matrix of a generic geometry. Based on a structural geological model, the method creates three dimensional unstructured tetrahedral meshes. These meshes can be used for finite element and finite volume numerical simulations. A simulation of a coupled fluid flow and heat transport problem for a two layered porous medium cut by two crossing faults is presented to test the reliability of the method. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00092819 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemer.2010.05.014 SN - 0009-2819 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kaiser, Bjoern Onno A1 - Cacace, Mauro A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena A1 - Lewerenz, Bjoern T1 - Characterization of main heat transport processes in the Northeast German Basin constraints from 3-D numerical models JF - Geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems N2 - To investigate and quantify main physical heat driving processes affecting the present-day subsurface thermal field, we study a complex geological setting, the Northeast German Basin (NEGB). The internal geological structure of the NEGB is characterized by the presence of a relatively thick layer of Permian Zechstein salt (up to 5000 m), which forms many salt diapirs and pillows locally reaching nearly the surface. By means of three-dimensional numerical simulations we explore the role of heat conduction, pressure, and density driven groundwater flow as well as fluid viscosity related effects. Our results suggest that the regional temperature distribution within the basin results from interactions between regional pressure forces as driven by topographic gradients and thermal diffusion locally enhanced by thermal conductivity contrasts between the different sedimentary rocks with the highly conductive salt playing a prominent role. In contrast, buoyancy forces triggered by temperature-dependent fluid density variations are demonstrated to affect only locally the internal thermal configuration. Locations, geometry, and wavelengths of convective thermal anomalies are mainly controlled by the permeability field and thickness values of the respective geological layers. KW - advection KW - convection KW - coupled fluid and heat transport KW - numerical simulations KW - Northeast German Basin KW - salt structures Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GC003535 SN - 1525-2027 VL - 12 IS - 13 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kaiser, Björn Onno A1 - Cacace, Mauro A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena T1 - 3D coupled fluid and heat transport simulations of the Northeast German Basin and their sensitivity to the spatial discretization - different sensitivities for different mechanisms of heat transport JF - Environmental earth sciences N2 - Based on a numerical model of the Northeast German Basin (NEGB), we investigate the sensitivity of the calculated thermal field as resulting from heat conduction, forced and free convection in response to consecutive horizontal and vertical mesh refinements. Our results suggest that computational findings are more sensitive to consecutive horizontal mesh refinements than to changes in the vertical resolution. In addition, the degree of mesh sensitivity depends strongly on the type of the process being investigated, whether heat conduction, forced convection or free thermal convection represents the active heat driver. In this regard, heat conduction exhibits to be relative robust to imposed changes in the spatial discretization. A systematic mesh sensitivity is observed in areas where forced convection promotes an effective role in shorten the background conductive thermal field. In contrast, free thermal convection is to be regarded as the most sensitive heat transport process as demonstrated by non-systematic changes in the temperature field with respect to imposed changes in the model resolution. KW - Mesh convergence KW - Conduction KW - Advection KW - Convection KW - Thermal field KW - Northeast German Basin Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2249-7 SN - 1866-6280 SN - 1866-6299 VL - 70 IS - 8 SP - 3643 EP - 3659 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cacace, Mauro A1 - Blöcher, Guido A1 - Watanabe, Norihiro A1 - Möck, Inga A1 - Börsing, Nele A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena A1 - Kolditz, Olaf A1 - Hünges, Ernst T1 - Modelling of fractured carbonate reservoirs - outline of a novel technique via a case study from the Molasse Basin, southern Bavaria, Germany JF - Environmental earth sciences N2 - Fluid flow in low-permeable carbonate rocks depends on the density of fractures, their interconnectivity and on the formation of fault damage zones. The present-day stress field influences the aperture hence the transmissivity of fractures whereas paleostress fields are responsible for the formation of faults and fractures. In low-permeable reservoir rocks, fault zones belong to the major targets. Before drilling, an estimate for reservoir productivity of wells drilled into the damage zone of faults is therefore required. Due to limitations in available data, a characterization of such reservoirs usually relies on the use of numerical techniques. The requirements of these mathematical models encompass a full integration of the actual fault geometry, comprising the dimension of the fault damage zone and of the fault core, and the individual population with properties of fault zones in the hanging and foot wall and the host rock. The paper presents both the technical approach to develop such a model and the property definition of heterogeneous fault zones and host rock with respect to the current stress field. The case study describes a deep geothermal reservoir in the western central Molasse Basin in southern Bavaria, Germany. Results from numerical simulations indicate that the well productivity can be enhanced along compressional fault zones if the interconnectivity of fractures is lateral caused by crossing synthetic and antithetic fractures. The model allows a deeper understanding of production tests and reservoir properties of faulted rocks. KW - Fractured carbonate geothermal reservoirs KW - Fault core and damage zone KW - In situ stress field KW - 3D mesh generator KW - OpenGeosys KW - Well productivity Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2402-3 SN - 1866-6280 SN - 1866-6299 VL - 70 IS - 8 SP - 3585 EP - 3602 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cherubini, Yvonne A1 - Cacace, Mauro A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena A1 - Moeck, Inga A1 - Lewerenz, Björn T1 - Controls on the deep thermal field - implications from 3-D numerical simulations for the geothermal research site Groß Schönebeck JF - Environmental earth sciences N2 - The deep thermal field in sedimentary basins can be affected by convection, conduction or both resulting from the structural inventory, physical properties of geological layers and physical processes taking place therein. For geothermal energy extraction, the controlling factors of the deep thermal field need to be understood to delineate favorable drill sites and exploitation compartments. We use geologically based 3-D finite element simulations to figure out the geologic controls on the thermal field of the geothermal research site Gro Schonebeck located in the E part of the North German Basin. Its target reservoir consists of Permian Rotliegend clastics that compose the lower part of a succession of Late Carboniferous to Cenozoic sediments, subdivided into several aquifers and aquicludes. The sedimentary succession includes a layer of mobilized Upper Permian Zechstein salt which plays a special role for the thermal field due to its high thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the salt is impermeable and due to its rheology decouples the fault systems in the suprasalt units from subsalt layers. Conductive and coupled fluid and heat transport simulations are carried out to assess the relative impact of different heat transfer mechanisms on the temperature distribution. The measured temperatures in 7 wells are used for model validation and show a better fit with models considering fluid and heat transport than with a purely conductive model. Our results suggest that advective and convective heat transport are important heat transfer processes in the suprasalt sediments. In contrast, thermal conduction mainly controls the subsalt layers. With a third simulation, we investigate the influence of a major permeable and of three impermeable faults dissecting the subsalt target reservoir and compare the results to the coupled model where no faults are integrated. The permeable fault may have a local, strong impact on the thermal, pressure and velocity fields whereas the impermeable faults only cause deviations of the pressure field. KW - Thermal field KW - Coupled fluid and heat transport KW - Faults KW - Groß beta Schönebeck Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2519-4 SN - 1866-6280 SN - 1866-6299 VL - 70 IS - 8 SP - 3619 EP - 3642 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kaiser, Björn Onno A1 - Cacace, Mauro A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena T1 - Quaternary channels within the Northeast German Basin and their relevance on double diffusive convective transport processes - constraints from 3-D thermohaline numerical simulations JF - Geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems N2 - The internal geological structure of the Northeast German Basin (NEGB) is affected by intense salt diapirism and by the presence of several stratified aquifer complexes of regional relevance. The shallow Quaternary to late Tertiary freshwater aquifer is separated from the underlying Mesozoic saline aquifers by an embedded Tertiary clay enriched aquitard (Rupelian Aquitard). An important feature of this aquitard is that hydraulic connections between the upper and lower aquifers do exist in areas where the Rupelian Aquitard is missing (hydrogeological windows). Three-dimensional thermohaline numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the effects of such hydrogeological windows in the Rupelian Aquitard on the resulting groundwater, temperature, and salinity distributions. Numerical results suggest that hydrogeological windows act as preferential domains of hydraulic interconnectivity between the different aquifers at depth and enable vigorous heat and mass transport which causes a mixing of warm and saline groundwater with cold and less saline groundwater within both aquifers. In areas where the Rupelian Aquitard confines the Mesozoic aquifer, dissolved solutes from major salt structures are transported laterally giving rise to plumes of variable salinity content ranging from few hundreds of meters to several tens of kilometers. Furthermore, destabilizing thermal buoyancy forces may overwhelm counteracting stabilizing salinity induced forces offside of salt domes. This may result in buoyant upward groundwater flow transporting heat and mass to shallower levels within the same Mesozoic Aquifer. KW - double diffusive convection KW - thermohaline processes KW - numerical simulations KW - salt structures KW - Northeast German Basin KW - quarternary channels Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ggge.20192 SN - 1525-2027 VL - 14 IS - 8 SP - 3156 EP - 3175 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sippel, Judith A1 - Meessen, Christian A1 - Cacace, Mauro A1 - Mechie, James A1 - Fishwick, Stewart A1 - Heine, Christian A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - The Kenya rift revisited BT - insights into lithospheric strength through data-driven 3-D gravity and thermal modelling JF - Solid earth N2 - We present three-dimensional (3-D) models that describe the present-day thermal and rheological state of the lithosphere of the greater Kenya rift region aiming at a better understanding of the rift evolution, with a particular focus on plume-lithosphere interactions. The key methodology applied is the 3-D integration of diverse geological and geophysical observations using gravity modelling. Accordingly, the resulting lithospheric-scale 3-D density model is consistent with (i) reviewed descriptions of lithological variations in the sedimentary and volcanic cover, (ii) known trends in crust and mantle seismic velocities as revealed by seismic and seismological data and (iii) the observed gravity field. This data-based model is the first to image a 3-D density configuration of the crystalline crust for the entire region of Kenya and northern Tanzania. An upper and a basal crustal layer are differentiated, each composed of several domains of different average densities. We interpret these domains to trace back to the Precambrian terrane amalgamation associated with the East African Orogeny and to magmatic processes during Mesozoic and Cenozoic rifting phases. In combination with seismic velocities, the densities of these crustal domains indicate compositional differences. The derived lithological trends have been used to parameterise steady-state thermal and rheological models. These models indicate that crustal and mantle temperatures decrease from the Kenya rift in the west to eastern Kenya, while the integrated strength of the lithosphere increases. Thereby, the detailed strength configuration appears strongly controlled by the complex inherited crustal structure, which may have been decisive for the onset, localisation and propagation of rifting. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/se-8-45-2017 SN - 1869-9510 SN - 1869-9529 VL - 8 SP - 45 EP - 81 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Degen, Denise A1 - Spooner, Cameron A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena A1 - Cacace, Mauro T1 - How biased are our models? BT - a case study of the alpine region JF - Geoscientific model development : an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union N2 - Geophysical process simulations play a crucial role in the understanding of the subsurface. This understanding is required to provide, for instance, clean energy sources such as geothermal energy. However, the calibration and validation of the physical models heavily rely on state measurements such as temperature. In this work, we demonstrate that focusing analyses purely on measurements introduces a high bias. This is illustrated through global sensitivity studies. The extensive exploration of the parameter space becomes feasible through the construction of suitable surrogate models via the reduced basis method, where the bias is found to result from very unequal data distribution. We propose schemes to compensate for parts of this bias. However, the bias cannot be entirely compensated. Therefore, we demonstrate the consequences of this bias with the example of a model calibration. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7133-2021 SN - 1991-959X SN - 1991-9603 VL - 14 IS - 11 SP - 7133 EP - 7153 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rodriguez Piceda, Constanza A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena A1 - Bott, Judith A1 - Gomez Dacal, Maria Laura A1 - Cacace, Mauro A1 - Pons, Michael A1 - Prezzi, Claudia A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - Controls of the Lithospheric Thermal Field of an Ocean-Continent Subduction Zone BT - the Southern Central Andes JF - Lithosphere / Geological Society of America N2 - In an ocean-continent subduction zone, the assessment of the lithospheric thermal state is essential to determine the controls of the deformation within the upper plate and the dip angle of the subducting lithosphere. In this study, we evaluate the degree of influence of both the configuration of the upper plate (i.e., thickness and composition of the rock units) and variations of the subduction angle on the lithospheric thermal field of the southern Central Andes (29 degrees-39 degrees S). Here, the subduction angle increases from subhorizontal (5 degrees) north of 33 degrees S to steep (similar to 30 degrees) in the south. We derived the 3D temperature and heat flow distribution of the lithosphere in the southern Central Andes considering conversion of S wave tomography to temperatures together with steady-state conductive thermal modeling. We found that the orogen is overall warmer than the forearc and the foreland and that the lithosphere of the northern part of the foreland appears colder than its southern counterpart. Sedimentary blanketing and the thickness of the radiogenic crust exert the main control on the shallow thermal field (<50km depth). Specific conditions are present where the oceanic slab is relatively shallow (<85 km depth) and the radiogenic crust is thin. This configuration results in relatively colder temperatures compared to regions where the radiogenic crust is thick and the slab is steep. At depths >50km, the temperatures of the overriding plate are mainly controlled by the mantle heat input and the subduction angle. The thermal field of the upper plate likely preserves the flat subduction angle and influences the spatial distribution of shortening. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2113/2022/2237272 SN - 1941-8264 SN - 1947-4253 VL - 2022 IS - 1 PB - GeoScienceWorld CY - McLean ER -