Recent Developments in the Measurement of Down-Hole Temperatures and Thermal Conductivity for Heat Flow Determination: a Review

Abstract

Heat flow data are fundamental to almost every Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) exploration program in Australia. In the absence of direct temperature data from deep petroleum wells, the extrapolation of heat flow data provides one of the only techniques that is able to remotely sense the presence of buried anomalous heat. Collecting heat flow data can be expensive with bores drilled specifically for heat flow determination (typically 300 m to 1000 m in depth) having a total drilling cost of between AUD$100,000 and AUD$1,000,000. Exploration boreholes are typically slim