Upper Rhine Graben Deep Geothermal Reservoir Imaging

Abstract

Over the past 35 years, geothermal projects have been developed in the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) to exploit deep geothermal energy. Underneath roughly two kilometres of sedimentary deposits, the deep target consists of a granitic basement which is highly fractured and hydro-thermally altered, having a high geothermal reservoir potential. In order to better understand large scale faulting and ensure the viability of future geothermal projects, a 3D seismic survey was acquired in the French part of the URG during the summer of 2018. This paper describes how a combination of dedicated seismic processing, imaging and interpretation can help in the understanding of this complex basin for geothermal purposes. By revealing the deep granite layer and its complex associated fault network, this helped to accurately locate future production wells.