Atlas of Geothermal Resources in the European Community, Austria, and Switzerland

Abstract

The first requirement for the exploration of geothermal energy is the understanding of temperature distribution below subsurface. In addition, to determine the resources, it is necessary to measure also hydrogeological and rock characteristics of the subsurface. The acquisition of data for the assessment was occasionally complicated or even prevented because of the absence of information, unreliable data, the confidentiality of data, etc. The ambitious aim to catalogue both resources and reserves had therefore to be restrictet -for the time beeing -to the assessment of the resources only. Even this would have been impossible without the excellent teamwork and enthusiasm of all the research teams involved. The Atlas of the Commission of the European Communities is one of the major achievements of the Community's Geothermal Energy Research and Development programme, and represents the results of work in many countries over several years and is the first attempt in the world to present comparable data on geothermal resources both within and across national borders. The Atlas, consisting of 110 Plates representing more than 400 maps, is a fundamental document for the exploration of geothermal energy.