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Title: Time-series analysis of surface deformation at Brady Hot Springs geothermal field (Nevada) using interferometric synthetic aperture radar

Abstract

We analyze interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data acquired between 2004 and 2014, by the ERS-2, Envisat, ALOS and TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X satellite missions to measure and characterize time-dependent deformation at the Brady Hot Springs geothermal field in western Nevada due to extraction of fluids. The long axis of the ~4 km by ~1.5 km elliptical subsiding area coincides with the strike of the dominant normal fault system at Brady. Within this bowl of subsidence, the interference pattern shows several smaller features with length scales of the order of ~1 km. This signature occurs consistently in all of the well-correlated interferometric pairs spanning several months. Results from inverse modeling suggest that the deformation is a result of volumetric contraction in shallow units, no deeper than 600 m, likely associated with damaged regions where fault segments mechanically interact. Such damaged zones are expected to extend downward along steeply dipping fault planes, providing a high permeability conduit to the production wells. Using time series analysis, we test the hypothesis that geothermal production drives the observed deformation. We find a good correlation between the observed deformation rate and the rate of production in the shallow wells. We also explore mechanisms that could potentially cause themore » observed deformation, including thermal contraction of rock, decline in pore pressure and dissolution of minerals over time.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [1];  [5];  [2];  [1];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  2. Ormat Technologies Inc., Reno, NV (United States)
  3. Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Earth and Environmental Science
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1249334
DOE Contract Number:  
EE0005510
Resource Type:
Other
Journal Name:
Geothermics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 61; Journal Issue: C; Related Information: This research was supported by grants from the Geothermal Technologies Office of the U.S. Department of Energy:"Development of tools for coupled InSAR and Seismicity monitoring of EGS reservoir development and management" (DE-EE0005510)"PoroTomo: Poroelastic Tomography by Adjoint Inverse Modeling of Data from Seismology, Geodesy, and Hydrology" (DE-EE0006760)Elena C. Baluyut was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under grant DGE-1256259.We gratefully acknowledge support from the Weeks family to the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Raw Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the ERS, and Envisat satellite missions operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) are copyrighted by ESA and were provided through the WInSAR consortium at the UNAVCO facility.SAR data from the ALOS satellite mission operated by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) were acquired from NASA's Distributed Active Archive Center at the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF).SAR data from the TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellite missions operated by the German Space Agency (DLR) were acquired through Research Project RES1236.; Journal ID: ISSN 0375-6505
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY; InSAR deformation

Citation Formats

Ali, S. T., Akerley, J., Baluyut, E. C., Cardiff, M., Davatzes, N. C., Feigl, K. L., Foxall, W., Fratta, D., Mellors, R. J., Spielman, P., Wang, H. F., and Zemach, E. Time-series analysis of surface deformation at Brady Hot Springs geothermal field (Nevada) using interferometric synthetic aperture radar. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1016/j.geothermics.2016.01.008.
Ali, S. T., Akerley, J., Baluyut, E. C., Cardiff, M., Davatzes, N. C., Feigl, K. L., Foxall, W., Fratta, D., Mellors, R. J., Spielman, P., Wang, H. F., & Zemach, E. Time-series analysis of surface deformation at Brady Hot Springs geothermal field (Nevada) using interferometric synthetic aperture radar. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2016.01.008
Ali, S. T., Akerley, J., Baluyut, E. C., Cardiff, M., Davatzes, N. C., Feigl, K. L., Foxall, W., Fratta, D., Mellors, R. J., Spielman, P., Wang, H. F., and Zemach, E. 2016. "Time-series analysis of surface deformation at Brady Hot Springs geothermal field (Nevada) using interferometric synthetic aperture radar". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2016.01.008. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1249334.
@article{osti_1249334,
title = {Time-series analysis of surface deformation at Brady Hot Springs geothermal field (Nevada) using interferometric synthetic aperture radar},
author = {Ali, S. T. and Akerley, J. and Baluyut, E. C. and Cardiff, M. and Davatzes, N. C. and Feigl, K. L. and Foxall, W. and Fratta, D. and Mellors, R. J. and Spielman, P. and Wang, H. F. and Zemach, E.},
abstractNote = {We analyze interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data acquired between 2004 and 2014, by the ERS-2, Envisat, ALOS and TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X satellite missions to measure and characterize time-dependent deformation at the Brady Hot Springs geothermal field in western Nevada due to extraction of fluids. The long axis of the ~4 km by ~1.5 km elliptical subsiding area coincides with the strike of the dominant normal fault system at Brady. Within this bowl of subsidence, the interference pattern shows several smaller features with length scales of the order of ~1 km. This signature occurs consistently in all of the well-correlated interferometric pairs spanning several months. Results from inverse modeling suggest that the deformation is a result of volumetric contraction in shallow units, no deeper than 600 m, likely associated with damaged regions where fault segments mechanically interact. Such damaged zones are expected to extend downward along steeply dipping fault planes, providing a high permeability conduit to the production wells. Using time series analysis, we test the hypothesis that geothermal production drives the observed deformation. We find a good correlation between the observed deformation rate and the rate of production in the shallow wells. We also explore mechanisms that could potentially cause the observed deformation, including thermal contraction of rock, decline in pore pressure and dissolution of minerals over time.},
doi = {10.1016/j.geothermics.2016.01.008},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1249334}, journal = {Geothermics},
issn = {0375-6505},
number = C,
volume = 61,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Characterizing volumetric strain at Brady Hot Springs, Nevada, USA using geodetic data, numerical models and prior information
journal, August 2018


Spatio–Temporal Analysis of Deformation at San Emidio Geothermal Field, Nevada, USA Between 1992 and 2010
journal, August 2019


Joint estimation of tiltmeter drift and volume variation during reservoir monitoring
journal, January 2019


The effect of fluid compressibility and elastic rock properties on deformation of geothermal reservoirs
journal, January 2019


Ground motion response to an ML 4.3 earthquake using co-located distributed acoustic sensing and seismometer arrays
journal, March 2018


Ten Years of Experience with Scientific TerraSAR-X Data Utilization
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Spatial and temporal patterns of deformation at the Tendaho geothermal prospect, Ethiopia
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