Hot-Dry-Rock Resource Investigation in Changbai Mountain, China

Abstract

Changbai mountain is located in Jilin province, Northeast China. This is an active volcano and the most recent volcanic eruption happened in the 13th century. But the most powerful eruption happened in the year 1024 AD. This eruption is considered to be one of most powerful two volcanic eruptions in the last 2000 years in the world. Between 2002-2006, some volcanic tremor events were recorded by the monitoring system. Geothermal resource is abundant in Changbai mountain. Surveys revealed that there are more than 200 hot springs distributed in this area. Water temperature has reached 87ºC. The beautiful geothermal landscapes attract plenty of visitors every year. On the west side of Changbai mountain, six geothermal wells have been drilled. During more than 10 years of production, all springs disappeared in this area. On the north side of the mountain, where there are more hot springs and higher water temperature, there is no geothermal well because of protective measures. So the geothermal landscape is still wonderful. In order to make efficient use of geothermal resources, and protect the geothermal landscape of Changbai mountain, a project of Hot-Dry-Rock investigation has been started recently. Since 2012, several kinds of geophysical prospecting methods have been used in this area to research the geothermal resource. Some information indicated that there are two magma chambers located at the north side of Tianchi Crater of Changbai mountain. The smaller magma chamber is about 5～7 kilometres deep, and the bigger one is about 15～20 kilometres deep from the surface. These show good prospecting potential for Enhanced Geothermal Systems.