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Relatively stable pressure effects and time-increasing thermal contraction control Heber geothermal field deformation

June 17, 2024

Due to geological complexities and observational gaps, it is challenging to identify the governing physical processes of geothermal field deformation including ground subsidence and earthquakes. In the west and east regions of the Heber Geothermal Field (HGF), decade-long subsidence was occurring despite injection of heat-depleted brines, along with transient reversals between uplift and subsidence. These observed phenomena contradict current knowledge that injection leads to surface uplift. Here we show that high-yield production wells at the HGF center siphon fluid from surrounding regions, which can cause subsidence at low-rate injection locations. Moreover, the thermal contraction effect by cooling increases with time and eventually overwhelms the pressure effects of pressure fluctuation and poroelastic responses, which keep relatively stable during geothermal operations. The observed subsidence anomalies result from the siphoning effect and thermal contraction. We further demonstrate that thermal contraction dominates long-term trends of surface displacement and seismicity growth, while pressure effects drive near-instantaneous changes.

Publication Year 2024
Title Relatively stable pressure effects and time-increasing thermal contraction control Heber geothermal field deformation
DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-49363-1
Authors Guoyan Jiang, Andrew Barbour, Robert John Skoumal, Kathryn Zerbe Materna, Aren Crandall-Bear
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Nature Communications
Index ID 70256069
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Earthquake Science Center
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