THE GEOTHERMAL FIELD OF THE UPPER SILESIAN COAL BASIN

Abstract

The area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) is one of
the best geothermally explored areas in Poland. Due to
extensive coal exploration drilling the thermal field of the basin
has been directly established down to the depth of 1000 Ò
2000 m. Below this depth the field is estimated basing on
results of calculations of the heat flow density. The values of
heat flow in the basin vary from 50 mW/m2 Ò 90mW/m2. Positive
heat flow anomalies have been identified in the neighborhood
of faults parallel to latitude. They are situated in the ÿory Ò
Jawiszowice and Bzie-DÕbia Ò Czechowice zones, where
tectonothermic reactivation was active during the early alpine
orogenic phases. The relatively high geothermal temperatures,
measured within the depth reached by boreholes, are
perspective in respect of exploitation of the geothermal energy.