Knútur Árnason

Resistivity methods in geothermal prospecting in Iceland

Resistivity techniques have been used successfully to identify and delineate geothermal resources in Iceland. The most frequently used techniques include Schlumberger, central loop TEM and head-on profiling. Geothermal systems in Iceland are located both within and outsite the active volcanic regions. Outsite the active volcanic regions the temperature in the upper most kilometer of the geothermal systems is below 150° C whereas the temperature in the geothermal fields within the active volcanic regions exceeds 200° C. The resistivity of the rock in geothermal fields located outside the active volcanic regions ranges from about 10 Ωm to some hundreds of Ωm, and are characterized by considerably lower resistivity than of the surrounding rocks. Most of the geothermal systems within the active volcanic regions, show common resistivity structure with low resistivity of 1–5 Ωm surrounding an inner core of higher resistivity. This increasing resistivity with depth is associated with a change in the conduction mechanism, from interface conduction to electrolyte conduction due to a change in alteration minerals at about 240° C. Examples of resistivity surveys of geothermal fields from both outsite and within the active volcanic regions are discussed.

Magma reflection imaging in Krafla, Iceland, using microearthquake sources

The details of magma plumbing beneath active volcanoes remain a major challenge in geochemistry, geophysics and volcanic hazard evaluation. Here we apply a relatively novel variation of seismic interferometry, which we call Virtual Reflection Seismic Profiling (VRSP), to produce a high-resolution image of a known crustal magma body. The technique takes advantage of recent advances in both seismic instrumentation (dense arrays) and seismic analysis (seismic interferometry). We have applied this technique to data recently acquired at an iconic volcanic system, Krafla, which lies on the mid-Atlantic ridge as exposed in northern Iceland. What make this particular site exceptional are encounters with rhyolitic magma in two drillholes, K-39 and Iceland Deep Drilling Project-1 (IDDP-1). These known magma bodies represent a unique calibration opportunity for surface geophysical measurements of magma distribution at depth. In this study, we produced a stacked, seismic reflection section by applying common depth point processing techniques to virtual shot gathers derived from interferometry of P waves from microearthquakes generated by tectonic, magmatic and/or geothermal activity. We observe a strong, coherent reflection on the seismic section at a travel time corresponding to the depth at which magma was encountered in the IDDP-1 wellbore. We interpret this reflection to be from magma or magma-related fluids. Additional coherent reflections may correspond to other components of the magma plumbing beneath Krafla. These results represent a promising new technique for structural imaging with natural sources that can be applied to a wide array of geologic and energy problems that involve natural or induced seismic clusters.