Geothermal exploration and reservoir characterization utilize a broad range of techniques. AOA provides this entire breadth of geological and geophysical services to the geothermal industry.
Regional Geologic Integration
AOA are a leaders in regional mapping and the integration of many types of geologic and geophysical data. Our QuickStudy™ maps incorporate gravity, magnetic, topographic, sedimentological and tectonic data.
The geoscientists at AOA are adept at using many software tools. This knowledge and skills base is ideally suited to visualization and interpretation for geothermal exploration and development.
More than 60 QuickStudies have been carried out worldwide and new studies can be customized to fit unique requirements.
Magnetotelluric
AOA’s core software product Geotools MT is an industry standard for modeling MT (magnetotellurics – a natural source electromagnetic method). MT data can be more effective than seismic in volcanic regions where traditional high-temperature geothermal resources are often located.
A Geotools 2-D model of a geothermal reservoir integrated with 3-D topography data.
(Geotools MT will be updated and relaunched in early 2011)
AOA has geophysical expertise in collecting, processing and interpreting MT data as well as high-resolution 2-D & 3-D seismic surveys, resistivity, petrophysical, and drilling data.
Geopressured/Coproduced
Recent attention has focused on producing geothermal energy from sedimentary basins. These non- traditional geothermal resources can take advantage of infrastructure developed originally for hydrocarbon exploration. Such thermal resources have relatively high temperatures at the depths routinely reached by oil and gas drilling.
The geoscientists at AOA Geophysics Inc. have extensive experience interpreting and defining such over-pressured zones in sedimentary basins worldwide. In particular, AOA’s geoscientists have a thorough understanding of the regional geology and depositional history of the US Gulf Coast. AOA geoscientists interpret over-pressured zones for geohazard analyses using seismic and wireline data and then integrate it with local and regional geologic structure, depositional history, and borehole data.
Heat flow map of the conterminous United States – a subset of the geothermal map of North America (Blackwell and Richards, 2004).
Sediment thickness map (in meters, modified from AAPG Basement Map of North America, 1978).
AOA has years of practice integrating geophysical data, collecting and interpreting MT data and in identifying over-pressured zones that can help your company explore for economic geothermal resources better, faster and more efficiently.
All BHT (borehole temperature) sites in the conterminous United States in the AAPG database (MIT, 2006).
AOA has years of practice integrating geophysical data, collecting and interpreting MT data and in identifying over-pressured zones that can help your company explore for economic geothermal resources better, faster and more efficiently.
For more information on AOA’s services for Geothermal exploration planning and development please contact Adrian Digby or Bob Furgerson at our Houston Office.
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