Questions tagged [geothermal-heat]
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How to determine underground temperatures?
I wonder how deep does the ground stop becoming colder and begins to get warmer? Moreover, are there any maps or methods to determine this for regions with different elevations and temperatures that ...
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What determines rock temperature inside mountains?
Wikipedia article says about the Gotthard Base Tunnel:
"It is the deepest railway tunnel in the world, with a maximum depth of 2,450 m (8,040 ft), comparable to that of the deepest mines on Earth....
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At what depth does the underground begin to warm up?
Spring water comes out colder from being underground. But if you get deeper the temperature goes up. At what depth does the underground stop getting colder and begins getting warmer?
Is there a map ...
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Should geothermal electricity be considered green?
I always considered geothermal energy a vast, emission-free green energy source. That is, if you happen to live in the right place. That also seems to be the sentiment online.
I live in Italy, in the &...
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Map of earth subsurface temperature
I see similar flavours of this question have been asked a few times, but I still don't see a satisfying answer. I am looking for data (maps) of the earth subsurface temperature at a depth sufficient ...
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Why is geothermal heat insignificant to surface temperature?
I believe the temperature gradient underground is as high as 30°C per kilometer of depth. Thus, it is very warm only 1 kilometer below the Earth's surface. Yet, it is commonly stated that geothermal ...
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At what depth does the ground stop getting cooler/hotter(summer/winter) and it starts to warm up?Where is the MAT depth or geothermal crossover?
Lookin into geothermal cooling, and want to learn more about how temperature behaves at different depths, not too deep like 100 meters or so, ignoring unusual stuff like geysers and things.
I want to ...
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What is the average temperature of the whole planet Earth, not just the surface?
What is the average temperature of the Earth when you take into account all of the layers, not just the surface? Everything I've found so far concern only the surface or each layer individually. But ...
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Simple Mathematical Equation for the Geotherm
Hi I need a simple equation (polynomial third straight) for a PerpleX simulation to represent the mantle geotherm. The geotherms I have found on the internet so far (unfortunately I don't have the ...
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Why does it feel hotter at night?
Why does the same temperature feel hotter at night? For example, 70 degrees literally feels hot at night when outside but during the day 70 degrees feels just mild when outside. Why is that? And ...
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Is there superionic ice in the earth? and how did it get there?
I recently researched about Superionic Ice which basically is Water under so much pressure and heat that it turns into a black hot ice. I read this article about it too. I found out Superionic ice ...
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Geothermal instead of fossil and nuclear?
Why aren't we taking advantage of geothermal heating to produce electricity around the world, instead of burning fossil fuels and using nuclear?
Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper than building new power ...
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Formation of steam underground
In the process of drilling holes in the ground, if water was introduced, could it reach equilibrium vapor pressure, flash to steam and expel drill bit, drilling rod, and other debris up and out of the ...
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Did the Geothermal Power Plant contribute to Pahoa's Lava Fissures?
There was lava in the area near the wells that the Puna Geothermal Venture facility created.
The plant has nine wells that run as deep as 8,000 feet, according to Wil Okabe, managing director for ...
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Is there a more accurate method for estimating ground or soil temperatures
Context
We have geothermal, engineering and construction clients who often need accurate estimates of ground temperatures for project sites before they have physical access to the sites (for ...
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Do fossil fuels insulate the crust from the Earth's interior?
I was doing a project for my English class, and I came upon the article Energy conservation in the earth's crust and climate change. I can't view the full text of the article, but the abstract piqued ...
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Why is the deep sea cold?
Except near thermal vents, the deep ocean is generally considered to be quite cool. For instance, water temps in the Mariana Trench (~10 km deep) are 1-4 °C.
However, the geothermal gradient runs ...
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Wasn't Earth a magma ocean before core-mantle differentiation?
I've always thought that the process of planetary accretion was energetic enough to keep the proto-Earth entirely molten, and the subsequent evolution of the planet (the formation of the crust, etc...)...
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How much of Earth's internal heat comes from primordial heating and how has it changed since Earth's formation?
I'm trying to get a general idea of how Earth and other planets behave over time for a project. While I can find plenty of good data about how much radiative heating there was, I can't find anything ...
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What is the most current thinking on the amount of heat transferred into the oceans from underwater thermal vents and volcanoes?
My understanding is that with the relatively recent discovery of many more volcanoes on the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Ridge (and perhaps other ocean ridges) and more deep trenches with thermal vents, that ...
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Ranking volcanic rocks influence to geothermal suitability?
I am not a geologist/geology student but I want to quickly know the influence of volcanic rock type to geothermal suitability. I have read read some journals and online articles but it seems there are ...
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Source of heat in the center of Earth
If I read around most of comments and articles on the Internet give two main reasons for the heat found in the depths of our planet :
Super high pressure at the center of it
Radioactive decay
I need ...
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Geothermal gradient near surface?
Is there a good chart of the geothermal gradient but near the surface? I haven't been able to find one because they are primarily studied at larger depths, but I would like to know the equilibria at ...
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How would district heating affect the temperature of the earth's mantle/core?
I recently came across this article outlining the use of our advancements in oil and gas drilling to implement "district heating" (or geothermal heating for our buildings/cities as a whole) ...
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If the Sun disappeared, how long would it take for the Earth to freeze beyond excavatable depths?
If the Sun disappeared
How long would it take for the earth to freeze beyond excavatable
depths?
How long until it freezes to the core? (Is this different than without removing the Sun?)
Would we be ...
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Why is the inside of the Earth so hot?
I have heard that the Earth is made up of four layers, being the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. I have also heard that the Earth's temperature increases as you move from the ...
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Could the Earth's core lose its heat?
Will all the drilling and digging to use the Earth's natural heat as geothermal energy affect the Earth's core, causing it to cool down?
If so, would it result in an ice age? If not, how does the ...
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How does geothermal heating work?
I have heard that geothermal heating is a way of generating energy from the temperature difference between the inner layers of the Earth and the Earth's crust. How is it possible to extract this ...
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Earth's interior heat ratio between pressure and atomic decay
What is our current understanding between the ratio of Earth's interior heat between the downward pressure and atomic decay?
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Is there a correlation between hot springs and earthquakes?
Is there a correlation between how many hot springs an area has, and how frequent or severe the area's earthquakes are?
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Are hot springs in non-volcanic areas radioactive?
Hot springs in non-volcanic areas are attributed to the interaction of water with hot rocks deep in the earth's crust:
In non-volcanic areas, the temperature of rocks within the Earth also ...
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Why don't scientists use fire entry suits to study volcanoes?
It seems like the only personal protective equipment
(PPE) that volcanologists use are aluminized suits that don't provide any protection from direct contact with lava, making an unexpected splash ...
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How does the subsurface earth temperature vary around the world?
In the US, when constructing a geothermal heat pump, common knowledge holds that anywhere in the country the subsurface ground temperature at a depth of 5 m will be around 10 to 15 C, which is a good ...
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Does the geothermal activity influence the climate in Iceland?
Iceland has a much more temperate climate than its latitude (~65 degrees) would suggest, thanks to the North Atlantic Current bringing relatively warm water/air so far up north.
There is a lot of ...
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Will geothermal cooling be greatly affected by global warming?
Geothermal cooling has been an attractive option in the U.S. Northeast
since it emits very little carbon into the atmosphere compared with
compressed refrigerant systems which use lots of electricity....
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Would the subsurface event leading to tree death at West Tern Lake in Yellowstone be visible in thermal imaging?
The New York Times article It’s Warm and Stealthy, and It Killed Yellowstone Trees and Turned Soil Pale describes an even that took place over the past few decades where a small and well-defined ...
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Why is the temperature between the earth core and surface not distributed linearly?
So I read somewhere that the inner core temperature of Earth might be as high as 7000 °C.
Depending on the composition of the different layers towards the surface, the temperature should decline ...
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How much heat is transported from the interior to the surface in the form of hydration enthalpy?
Heat is transferred from the interior to the surface through several methods. One is simply the conduction of sensible heat through the crust - I would guess this accounts for most of it. But some is ...
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How we can find hot spring genesis time?
Is there any way we can calculate the time when a particular hot spring come into existence? Also I wanted to know what is average time period for a active hot spring in general, whether it can flow ...
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Why is my pond / lake melting when the temperature is still far below freezing?
I recently moved into a new house with a 2 acre lake behind it. We’ve had 15 consecutive days below freezing, and the last 12 of those have been below 20 degrees (Fahrenheit)! Six days ago I shoveled ...
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What's that geothermal smell?
Visit any geothermal area like Iceland, Yellowstone or Rotorua, and you notice a disgusting smell. The web-pages all discuss hydrogen sulphide, but there is something else, like burned bacon. I'm ...
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Does volcanic activity fluctuate?
According to this person's surmises, volcanic activity appers to be increasing.
However, according to this report, volcanic activity is probably not increasing.
My question is:
Does Volcanic activity ...
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Using heat at depth to generate power
I was thinking if there is any power plant in Earth that generates power by sending water at depths and getting steam in return?
Just some random idea:
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why does Earth have three wind cells instead of just one? [duplicate]
I wondered what causes three wind cells on earth -Hadley Cells, Ferrel Cells, and Polar Cells, instead of just a one big cell from equator to the pole?
I'd like a straightforward, intuitive ...
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Are pumps used in geothermal systems?
The water held underground in a geothermal system is under high temperature and pressure. Are pumps used to raise the very hot underground water to the surface or does the water rise under its own ...
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How much heat flow is needed to maintain plate tectonics?
The Earth is emitting about 47 terawatts of heat energy, producing a heat flow of 0.0921 W/m$^2$ due to radiogenic and primordial heat energy. The heat flow drives mantle convection which in turn ...
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Which geothermal power plant type is most effecient? [closed]
There are three geothermal systems that are commonly used: dry steam, flash steam, and binary cycle[1]. What are the efficiencies of the plants from best to least efficient?
I did a moderate amount ...
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Is it feasible to use depleted oil wells for geothermal production?
There is an oil field outside my hometown. I wonder if it is feasible to use the same oil wells for geothermal production after oil production rate drops below profitable point.
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Can the overuse of geothermal energy become an environmental concern? [duplicate]
At what power output would we be using so much geothermal energy that we cool the core enough to endanger the Earth's magnetic field and have to stop using it? Is this a conceivable concern for a ...
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Thermal spring. Gas and water characterization
I am interested in assessing a thermal spring in the Ecuadorian Andes. However I have no experience in these type of geological features and I am not sure how to proceed. The spring is located over ...
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