Conceptual Hydrological Models - Module 8

Abstract

Scientific evaluations of a geothermal prosect can be wide-ranging in scope; starting with a brief surface reconnaissance (perhaps involving the sampling of a few major features) and extending with a multidisciplinary integration of scientific data from a fully drilled field. The final task at each stage of investigation will usually be the development of a conceptual hydrological model of the system. This can be described as a generalised mental impression of the physical and chemical structure of the system. Although it should conform to general physical principals (e.g. boiling point for depth relationships) the model is generally not rigorously constrained by physical conditions (e.g. temperature, pressure, size etc). This is in contrast to numerical models where physical parameters are assigned exact values and quantitative estimates of reservoir capacity or reservoir performance are derived.