Characterization of Topographic Changes in Geothermal Fields Around the South Bandung Basin, Indonesia

Abstract

Surface deformation is a common phenomenon in geothermal fields, because intensive fluids extraction and injections tend to cause subsidence and uplift of ground surface, respectively. In this study, we used Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (In-SAR) technique to detect and characterize accurately topographic changes in geothermal fields around the Bandung Basin, West Java, Indonesia in which many large fields are included such as Wayang Windu, Derajat, Patuha, and Kamojang. For this, two types of SAR dataset with different wavelength, X band (about 3 cm) and L band (about 25 cm) were used. SAR can acquire Earth imagery regardless of cloud cover and thick vegetation cover by long wavelength of microwave. The results clarified that the plate subduction caused regional-scale, crustal deformation around the basin and local topographic changes occurred around the production and injection wells. The effect of major faults on heterogeneity of the local changes was also revealed.