A geological model for the management of subsurface data in the urban environment of Barcelona and surrounding area

The overdevelopment of cities since the industrial revolution has shown the need to incorporate a sound geological knowledge in the management of required subsurface infrastructures and in the assessment of increasingly needed groundwater resources. Additionally, the scarcity of outcrops and the technical difficulty to conduct underground exploration in urban areas highlights the importance of implementing efficient management plans that deal with the legacy of heterogeneous subsurface information. To deal with these difficulties, a methodology has been proposed to integrate all the available spatio-temporal data into a comprehensive spatial database and a set of tools that facilitates the analysis and processing of the existing and newly added data for the city of Barcelona (NE Spain). Here we present the resulting actual subsurface 3-D geological model that incorporates and articulates all the information stored in the database. The methodology applied to Barcelona benefited from a good collaboration between administrative bodies and researchers that enabled the realization of a comprehensive geological database despite logistic difficulties. Currently, the public administration and also private sectors both benefit from the geological understanding acquired in the city of Barcelona, for example, when preparing the hydrogeological models used in groundwater assessment plans. The methodology further facilitates the continuous incorporation of new data in the implementation and sustainable management of urban groundwater, and also contributes to significantly reducing the costs of new infrastructures.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Geothermal anomaly identified under a dense urban area in the metropolitan region of Barcelona, Spain

During the drilling of the Barcelona Metro L9 line, at the Fondo station of Santa Coloma de Gramanet (Barcelona) a geothermal anomaly was detected, in which groundwater temperature was found to be up to 55°C. This anomaly was attributed to a rise of deep groundwater through some tectonic structures, in a similar way to other geothermal zones of Catalonia (Spain). This geothermal area is located under a dense urban area where the information of its hydrogeological and geothermal features is limited. Due to the economic benefits of geothermal energy to society, studying and understanding the dynamics of the geothermal system, as well as, assessing its potential for future exploitation of the resource in this dense urban area, are of great interest. In order to study the feasibility of a future energy exploitation of the geothermal resource, a study is being undertaken at local and regional scale. In the regional study, whose first results are presented in this work, the objective is to understand the hydrothermal operation of the system. To achieve this, different works have been performed as are: geological review, borehole drilling, petrology, borehole logging, hydrochemical and isotopic assessment, thermography images, etc. This information has been integrated in numerical models of flow and heat transport.Postprint (published version

3D GIS-based visualisation of geological, hydrogeological, hydrogeochemical and geothermal models

An integrated methodology is proposed for the 3D visualisation of underground resources related to groundwater. A set of tools named HEROS3D was developed in a GIS environment to support the generation of 3D entities representing geological, hydrogeological, hydrochemical and geothermal features. It uses a geospatial database in which hard data and interpreted data are stored. The interpretation of geological data can be visualised in 3D as surfaces or fence diagrams, and as 3D representations of boreholes. Moreover, HEROS3D allows editing geological surfaces by several methods, getting involved in the 3D geological modelling. Along with the geological model, HEROS3D generates 3D visualisation of chemical values and piezometric levels, whose temporal evolution can be taken into account. In addition, three-dimensional representations of thermal plumes generated by the exploitation of shallow geothermal energy can be created and visualised jointly. In this way, all steps in hydrogeological modelling can be visualised in three-dimensional space, to facilitate understanding and validation of the model. Results are shown for a case study in Barcelona, Spain.Fil: Alcaraz, María Alejandra. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Rectorado. Instituto de Hidrología de Llanuras - Sede Azul. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Hidrología de Llanuras - Sede Azul; ArgentinaFil: Vazquez Suñe, Enric. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua; España. Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya; EspañaFil: Velasco, Violeta. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua; España. Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya; EspañaFil: Diviu, Marc. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua; España. Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya; Españ

A geological model for the management of subsurface data in the urban environment of Barcelona and surrounding area

The overdevelopment of cities since the industrial revolution has shown the need to incorporate a sound geological knowledge in the management of required subsurface infrastructures and in the assessment of increasingly needed groundwater resources. Additionally, the scarcity of outcrops and the technical difficulty to conduct underground exploration in urban areas highlights the importance of implementing efficient management plans that deal with the legacy of heterogeneous subsurface information. To deal with these difficulties, a methodology has been proposed to integrate all the available spatio-temporal data into a comprehensive spatial database and a set of tools that facilitates the analysis and processing of the existing and newly added data for the city of Barcelona (NE Spain). Here we present the resulting actual subsurface 3-D geological model that incorporates and articulates all the information stored in the database. The methodology applied to Barcelona benefited from a good collaboration between administrative bodies and researchers that enabled the realization of a comprehensive geological database despite logistic difficulties. Currently, the public administration and also private sectors both benefit from the geological understanding acquired in the city of Barcelona, for example, when preparing the hydrogeological models used in groundwater assessment plans. The methodology further facilitates the continuous incorporation of new data in the implementation and sustainable management of urban groundwater, and also contributes to significantly reducing the costs of new infrastructures.Peer Reviewe

Anàlisi de la subsidència del terreny al barri de Poble Nou de Barcelona

Sol·licitant de l’informe: Barcelona Cicle de l'Aigua, S.A