Environmental forcings and structural controls on the present thermal regime of the Paris basin : issues for understanding the geothermal potential in Ile-de-France

Les acquisitions de mesures de températures et de conductivités thermiques ont enrichi la connaissance du régime thermique du bassin sédimentaire de Paris et ont mis en évidence des hétérogénéités thermiques spatiales ou temporelles. Afin de mieux les comprendre, ces variations doivent être intégrées dans une vision multidisciplinaire confrontant données et modèles. La revue bibliographique sur le sujet a permis d’intégrer les données de natures diverses, de les confronter par SIG et d’investiguer les connaissances. Cette étude a mis en évidence et réinterprété les variations verticales de flux géothermal. Les simulations conduites à partir de scénarios diffusifs paléoclimatiques montrent que le système a gardé en mémoire l’effet des paléoclimats. Par ailleurs, nous identifions pour la première fois une décroissance systématique du flux géothermal au niveau des principales formations aquifères. Des simulations thermo-hydrauliques transitoires des phénomènes paléoclimatiques mettent en évidence le développement de zones froide et chaude suivant les régions d’écoulement. Une explication de l’anomalie de température de plus de 20°C entre les installations géothermiques situées au nord et au sud de Paris au Bathonien est proposée. Les modélisations effectuées montrent clairement la contribution potentielle de zones fracturées, ainsi que celle des failles, à l’hétérogénéité observée dans le champ de température du bassin en permettant des écoulements contraints par le gradient de charge régional et les instabilités densitaires. Ces travaux ont montré le lien entre les formations du bassin qui sont exploitées pour leurs ressources ou utilisées comme milieu de stockage.The acquisition of measurements of temperature and of thermal conductivity has enriched the understanding of the thermal regime of the Paris sedimentary basin and brought to light spatial and temporal thermal heterogeneities. In order to understand them better, these variations need to be integrated into a multidisciplinary vision of the basin by comparing data against models. The bibliographic review made it possible to integrate data of diverse sorts, to compare them using GIS and to investigate the knowledge base. This study has highlighted and reinterpreted the vertical variations of geothermal flux. Simulations carried out based on diffusive palaeoclimatic scenarios show that the system has retained a memory of the effects of palaeoclimates. Furthermore, for the first time, a systematic decline of the geothermal flux has been identified at the level of the main aquifer formations. Transitory thermo-hydraulic simulations of palaeoclimatic phenomena show the development in the sedimentary basin of cold and hot zones according to the areas of flow. An explanation of the temperature anomaly of over 20°C between the geothermal installations located to the north and south of Paris in the Bathonian is put forward. The models produced clearly show the potential contribution of fractured zones, as well as that of the faults, to the heterogeneity observed in the temperature field of the basin by allowing flow constrained by the regional charge gradient and unstable densities. This work has shown the link between the formations in the basin which are exploited for their resources or used as a storage medium

Forçages environnementaux et contrôles structuraux sur le régime thermique actuel du bassin de Paris : enjeux pour la compréhension du potentiel géothermique en Ile-de-France

The acquisition of measurements of temperature and of thermal conductivity has enriched the understanding of the thermal regime of the Paris sedimentary basin and brought to light spatial and temporal thermal heterogeneities. In order to understand them better, these variations need to be integrated into a multidisciplinary vision of the basin by comparing data against models. The bibliographic review made it possible to integrate data of diverse sorts, to compare them using GIS and to investigate the knowledge base. This study has highlighted and reinterpreted the vertical variations of geothermal flux. Simulations carried out based on diffusive palaeoclimatic scenarios show that the system has retained a memory of the effects of palaeoclimates. Furthermore, for the first time, a systematic decline of the geothermal flux has been identified at the level of the main aquifer formations. Transitory thermo-hydraulic simulations of palaeoclimatic phenomena show the development in the sedimentary basin of cold and hot zones according to the areas of flow. An explanation of the temperature anomaly of over 20°C between the geothermal installations located to the north and south of Paris in the Bathonian is put forward. The models produced clearly show the potential contribution of fractured zones, as well as that of the faults, to the heterogeneity observed in the temperature field of the basin by allowing flow constrained by the regional charge gradient and unstable densities. This work has shown the link between the formations in the basin which are exploited for their resources or used as a storage medium.Les acquisitions de mesures de températures et de conductivités thermiques ont enrichi la connaissance du régime thermique du bassin sédimentaire de Paris et ont mis en évidence des hétérogénéités thermiques spatiales ou temporelles. Afin de mieux les comprendre, ces variations doivent être intégrées dans une vision multidisciplinaire confrontant données et modèles. La revue bibliographique sur le sujet a permis d’intégrer les données de natures diverses, de les confronter par SIG et d’investiguer les connaissances. Cette étude a mis en évidence et réinterprété les variations verticales de flux géothermal. Les simulations conduites à partir de scénarios diffusifs paléoclimatiques montrent que le système a gardé en mémoire l’effet des paléoclimats. Par ailleurs, nous identifions pour la première fois une décroissance systématique du flux géothermal au niveau des principales formations aquifères. Des simulations thermo-hydrauliques transitoires des phénomènes paléoclimatiques mettent en évidence le développement de zones froide et chaude suivant les régions d’écoulement. Une explication de l’anomalie de température de plus de 20°C entre les installations géothermiques situées au nord et au sud de Paris au Bathonien est proposée. Les modélisations effectuées montrent clairement la contribution potentielle de zones fracturées, ainsi que celle des failles, à l’hétérogénéité observée dans le champ de température du bassin en permettant des écoulements contraints par le gradient de charge régional et les instabilités densitaires. Ces travaux ont montré le lien entre les formations du bassin qui sont exploitées pour leurs ressources ou utilisées comme milieu de stockage

Multiple-well, multiple-reservoir, long term thermal modeling at Soultz EGS site

International audienceLessons learned from reservoir modeling using a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) approach in the framework of EGS activity have gradually helped us to better understand a number of coupled THM processes. This resulted in a general improvement of our numerical toolbox FRACAS. The present contribution illustrates a new step forward, which is applied to simulate the exploitation of a multiple-cell reservoir, as it is now the case at Soultz geothermal site. The new hypothesis formulated here is that the fracture network properties in a DFN approach can be regionalized in space according to the sets of micro-seismicity events recorded during the hydro-shearing stimulation phases of the various parts of the reservoir. Special care is given to the numerical treatment of seismic data sets ranging in different catalogues. Main inflow/outflow zones at the 4 deep wells (GPK1, GPK2, GPK3, GPK4) are considered in an explicit way. Hydraulic parameters for the present day exploitation are extracted from past studies, in the upper 3km reservoir tested in 1997, in lower reservoir experienced at 4.5 km depth and partly re-calibrated from the last 2010 circulation phase, with a GPK2 production of about 18 l/s. Extrapolation of hydraulic and thermal behaviors are made for the next 5 years, with an enlarged production rate (+25%), testing the impact of a partial re-injection of cold fluid in GPK1, as experienced in 2011. Model results do confirm in qualitative and quantitative ways, the possibility on running a balanced circulation with limited re-injection pressures. The negative impact on temperature production of fluid re-injected in upper parts of the reservoir and pushed toward production zones at intermediate depths in GPK2 is highlighted

Coupling processes at basin scale by numerical modelling for geothermal resources: application to the Anglo-Paris Basin

International audienc

Thermal anomalies, paleoclimatic diffusive and advective phenomena: example of the Anglo-Paris Basin

International audienc

Quantification of the impact of paleoclimates on the deep heat flux of the Paris Basin

International audienc

Coupling processes at basin scale by numerical modelling for geothermal resources: application to the Anglo-Paris Basin

International audienc

From neogene thin-skin to recent thick-skin deformation in Haiti fold-and-thrust belt (Western Hispaniola)

International audienceHaiti lies along the North Caribbean plate boundary, marked by two major left-lateral strike-slip faults. A southwest-verging Trans-Haitian fold-and-thrust belt (FTB), mostly affecting tertiary carbonate platform, developed in central Haiti between the two faults, south of the Massif du Nord and the San Juan–Los Pozos Fault Zone, as a result of north-south shortening. The large NW-SE antiformal Gonâve Island and Ridge mark the southwest termination of the FTB as it encountered the Southern Peninsula and Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone. We show that this collision resulted in a tightening of the deformed wedge and thrust faults rooted deeper into the crust, leading to a transition from thin-skinned to thick-skinned tectonics in the Pliocene. These short- (3–6 km) and long- (15–30 km) wavelength folding deformations are temporally distinct in the north and more concomitant in the south, where compressional thin-skinned deformation is still active. The thick-skinned shortening was mostly expressed during the Quaternary, as shown by the formation of folds and uplift of terraces between 1.7 Ma and today. This thick-skinned detachment is characterised by a stronger imprint of strike-slip component, dragging the FTB to a more E-W direction in its northwest and southeast extremities. Understanding of the fault zone geometry of the recent 2010 Haiti earthquake (M = 7.2) could be reconsidered in the light of this tectonic transition

Thermal and seismic hints for chimney type cross-stratal fluid flow in onshore basins

Abstract When modelling onshore sedimentary basins, modellers generally assume that semi-permeable layers (aquitards) greatly restrict vertical flow between aquifers. Aquitards are therefore considered as confining media and vertical flow is assumed to take place mainly within localised permeable faults, if any. In the offshore context, however, interpretation of seismic data frequently provides evidence of fluid flow between sedimentary layers via structurally disrupted formations (pervasive fractures) recognised as zones of reduced seismic amplitude and generically called “chimneys”. Here we show that chimneys are also present onshore, and that they crosscut confining layers. In the Anglo-Paris Basin, seismic data suggest 1 to 2 km wide zones of disrupted seismic signal spatially correlated to a hitherto unexplained major temperature anomaly of 20 °C. When included in geothermal models using a five-order increase in permeabilities with respect to confining layers, we find that fluid flows vertically through aquifers and confining layers, thereby explaining this major temperature anomaly. Despite the importance of their hydrodynamic and thermal impacts, chimneys – less obvious than faults – have been overlooked as fluid flow paths in many onshore sedimentary basins exploited for their resources. This indicates a clear need for better understanding of pervasive flow paths, especially as the resources and properties of basins (i.e. conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons, geothermal potential, CO2 storage, nuclear waste repository, drinking water, etc.) are increasingly being harnessed

Impact of Pervasive Faulting on Fluid Flows and Heat Transfers in the Anglo-Paris Basin

International audienc