Faults and fractures are critical geological features for geothermal energy exploration and production, acting as conduits for thermal fluids to circulate and heat up in the subsurface. These structures provide secondary permeability, with large-scale fractures within fault zones often representing more promising targets than smaller, distributed fractures. Detection and characterisation of these features are crucial for geothermal exploration, employing methods such as seismic surveys, and three-component (3C) beamforming technique to detect and characterise faults and fractures in geothermal fields.
The URGENT project aims to leverage machine learning models to improve exploration methods for identifying and characterising faults and fractures in sedimentary basins and hard rock basement formations.
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