Fracture System and Fluid Flow in the Takinoue Geothermal Area Inffered From the Microearthquake Study

Abstract

Recent geothermal exploitation and geophysical and geological investigation at geothermal areas lead to recognize the importance of the fracture system in geothermal reservoir. Fluid flow in rocks plays a central role in geothermal energy recovery. Fractures act as major fluid flow path. Permeability is controlled by fractures and is not homogeneous at all as in the case of porous media. So the mapping and evaluation of chracteristic (for example permeability) is of crucial importance. However few results give us sufficient knowledge on the fracture system, for example three-dimensional configuration of fluid flow path and permeability. In this paper, we discuss fracture system and fluid flow in the Takinoue geothermal area based on our microearthquake data.