Hydrodynamic and heat transport modelling of the regional transboundary geothermal aquifers of Western Hungary

Abstract

The research area is situated in the transboundary region of Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. The Upper Pannonian porous cold and thermal aquifer is affected each country, while the large karstwater-aquifer, contains of mainly Upper-Triassic carbonates, mainly situated in Hungary. The groundwater bodies are divided by national boundaries and are in focus of International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR).
For more than 50 years, more than 300 thermal wells utilize the thermal water from both kind of aquifers. So, in some parts of the research area the problem is the over-production, while in other parts of the area the refilling karst system causes uncontrolled water seepages on the surface. Next to the drinking water-, balneological- and agricultural water utilizations, there is increasing demand for the energy purpose of the thermal water, which may be confronted to the existed and/or domestic uses.
For the sustainable utilization and management regional hydrogeological and geothermal investigations are needed: the determination of the regional flow paths is the key for the sustainable and coordinated utilization.
The main questions are: what kind of flow systems situated in the porous and karst aquifers? How are the gravitational and geothermal forced systems linked? Which are the main flow directions? Are there conductive, convective and/or mixed flow systems in the geothermal system? How can we give answer for the geothermal anomalies? How can we utilize the changing systems in the future?
My PhD thesis is looking for the answers to the questions above with a complex 3D hydraulic and geothermal model based on geological, hydrogeological and geothermic data from each country.