Yibo Wang

(1) Background: Geothermal resources are enriched in Jiangsu Province, particularly in its mid-deep geothermal reservoirs. The thermal properties and thermal effects of magmatic rocks, which are largely unknown in Jiangsu Province, are fundamental for analyzing the genetic mechanisms of geothermal resources and evaluating resource potential. (2) Methods: Representative magmatic rock samples from different geological periods and different tectonic settings are collected from the main tectonic units of Jiangsu Province. Key thermophysical parameters such as thermal conductivity, heat production rate, rock density, and porosity are systematically tested. (3) Results: The variation patterns of these thermal property parameters are analyzed, and the sources and spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of radiogenic heat production, and the thermal effects of magmatic rocks, are specifically explored. (4) Conclusions: Magmatic rock lithology from acidic to basic is negatively correlated with thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and radiogenic heat production rate, and positively correlated with volumetric heat capacity. The radiogenic heat production of magmatic rocks is primarily controlled by the contents of U and Th, increasing with the increasing SiO₂ content. The formation of geothermal anomalies in areas with thin or absent sedimentary cover is significantly influenced by the thermal effect of magmatic rocks, especially by the high heat-producing granites. The radioactive thermal contribution of the Taolin and Suzhou plutons was calculated.

The coastal region of Fujian is part of the southeastern hilly and coastal geothermal anomaly zone and is a significant high-heat-flow area in mainland China. However, existing heat flow data suffer from low quality due to insufficient calculation depth and inadequate corrections; this hinders theoretical research and geothermal resource exploration in the region. This study obtained high-quality geothermal heat flow data through steady-state temperature measurements in six boreholes and thermal conductivity tests on 79 core samples collected in situ. The results indicate that the average heat flow values from four newly analyzed representative boreholes (HDR1, LJSZ, JM-1, DS) are 65.2 mW/m², exceeding the mainland Chinese average of 60.5 mW/m², highlighting the region’s high heat flow characteristics. This finding corroborates previous high-heat-flow measurements in the coastal area of Fujian and aligns with earlier studies. The research fills a gap in providing high-quality heat flow data for the region, enhances our understanding of its thermal state, and is significant for studying the distribution and development of geothermal resources in the area.

Research into the thermo-rheological structure of the lithosphere not only offers substantial constraints on the lithospheric thickness, geophysical characteristics, and tectonic evolution but also provides crucial insights into the causes of earthquakes and tectonic deformation. The southern section of the Tan-Lu Fault Zone, serving as an ancient plate boundary, divides the South China Block in the Lower Yangtze region and the North China Craton in the northern Anhui region. Studies on heat flow across the fault zone reveal significant lateral differences in thermal states on either side of the fault. However, the distribution pattern of heat flow lacks supportive evidence from thermal structure and rheological studies. In this research, we conducted detailed simulations of the thermo-rheological structure using two-dimensional seismic profiles that traverse the southern section of the Tan-Lu Fault Zone. The results indicate no significant anomalies in surface heat flow perpendicular to the fault zone. However, deep temperature anomalies are present. Additionally, the lithospheric rheological strength increases gradually from east to west, transitioning from the “jelly sandwich” model in the east to the “crème brûlée” model in the west, likely due to the dual control of lithospheric thermal structure and crustal compositional differences.

Geothermal resources have been recognized as important sources of clean renewable energy. The exploration, development, and utilization of geothermal resources, especially hot dry rock (HDR) resources, are highly important for achieving peak carbon and carbon neutrality. However, there is no comprehensive evaluation method for determining HDR target areas, and the evaluation scale and application disciplines are relatively simplistic. In this paper, we sought to optimize the identification of HDR target areas through a multiscale and multidisciplinary method and formed a set of generalized and demonstrative processes to guide the exploration of HDR resources. Through practical application to the Gonghe Basin and the Zhangzhou Basin, it was found that the comprehensive geothermal conditions of the Gonghe Basin are superior to those of the Zhangzhou Basin, and the geothermal reservoir depth, geothermal reservoir temperature, geothermal gradient, and heat flow are the four most important factors affecting hot dry rock geothermal resources. Using this method, the prioritization of target areas changes from a qualitative study to a quantitative and semiquantitative study, increasing the specificity and reliability of the decision-making process.

The thermal structure of the lithosphere is key to understanding its thickness, properties, evolution, and geothermal resources. Cratons are known for their low heat flow and deep lithospheric roots. However, present-day cratons in East China have geothermal characteristics that are highly complex, with variable heat flow values, diverging from the typical thermal state of cratons. In this study, we conducted a detailed analysis of the geothermal geological background of the cratons in East China, summarizing the thermal state and tectono-thermal processes of different tectonic units, calculating the temperature at various depths, and discussing differences in temperature and thermal reservoirs at different depths. The observed lithospheric thermal thickness within the North Jiangsu Basin and the Bohai Bay Basin is notably reduced in comparison to that of the Jianghan Basin and the Southern North China Basin. The phenomenon of craton destruction during the Late Mesozoic emerges as a pivotal determinant, enhancing the geothermal resource prospects of both the Bohai Bay Basin and the North Jiangsu Basin. Our findings contribute significantly to the augmentation of theoretical frameworks concerning the origins of heat sources in global cratons. Furthermore, they offer invaluable insights for the methodical exploration, evaluation, advancement, and exploitation of geothermal resources.

Geothermal energy is an eco-friendly, renewable source of underground thermal energy that exists in the interior of the earth. By tapping into these formations, fluids can be channeled to heat the rock formations above, resulting in a significantly higher land surface temperature (LST). However, LST readings are influenced by various factors such as sun radiation, cyclical variations, and precipitation, which can mask the temperature anomalies caused by geothermal heat. To address these issues and highlight the LST anomalies caused by geothermal heat, this paper proposes a methodology to efficiently and quickly calculate the multi-temporal LST leveraging of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) in the Damxung–Yangbajain basin, Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. This method incorporates terrain correction, altitude correction, and multi-temporal series comparison to extract thermal anomaly signals. The existing geothermal manifestations are used as a benchmark to further refine the methodology. The results indicate that the annual mean winter LST is a sensitive indicator of geothermal anomaly signals. The annual mean winter LST between 2015 and 2020 varied from −14.7 °C to 26.7 °C, with an average of 8.6 °C in the study area. After altitude correction and water body removal, the annual mean winter LST varied from −22.1 °C to 23.3 °C, with an average of 6.2 °C. When combining the distribution of faults with the results of the annual mean winter LST, this study delineated the geothermal potential areas that are located predominantly around the fault zone at the southern foot of the Nyainqentanglha Mountains. Geothermal potential areas exhibited a higher LST, ranging from 12.6 °C to 23.3 °C. These potential areas extend to the northeast, and the thermal anomaly range reaches as high as 19.6%. The geothermal potential area makes up 8.2% of the entire study area. The results demonstrate that the approach successfully identified parts of known geothermal fields and indicates sweet spots for future research. This study highlights that utilizing the multi-temporal winter LST is an efficient and cost-effective method for prospecting geothermal resources in plateau environments.

Surface Heat flow (HF) can be calculated from the accumulation of radiogenic heat production (RHP) of arbitrarily subdivided thin layers of the crust and the residual HF. However, geothermal studies of scientific drilling projects around the world do not have clear vertical correspondence between HF and RHP, which has created a great controversy for the relationship between the two. For the first time, continuous temperature data, thermal conductivity and RHP measurements from the 3,008‐m‐deep Lujiang‐Zongyang Scientific Drilling in the northeastern Yangtze Craton, demonstrate that the abnormal HF is determined by high RHP rock (mean value, 10 μW/m³). The detailed spatial‐temporal study of magmatic activity in the Lujiang‐Zongyang basin shows the high RHP rock are concentrated in the early syenite‐monzonite period (133–131 Ma) in the northern basin. Two enrichment processes caused by late Neoproterozoic and Mesozoic subduction contribute to the formation.

The study of thermal conductivity anisotropy is of great importance for more accurate heat flow calculations, geodynamic studies, development and utilization of hot dry rock, and simulation of heat transfer in geological reservoirs of nuclear waste, and so on. To study the thermal conductivity anisotropy of rocks, 1158 cores from 60 boreholes in East China were tested for thermal conductivity, including thermal conductivity values parallel to (λ_∥) and perpendicular to (λ_⊥) structural planes of basalt, mudstones, gneisses, sandstones, carbonates, evaporites, and metamorphic rocks. The thermal conductivity anisotropy is not obvious for sand, clay, and evaporate, and the average anisotropic factors of 1.19 ± 0.22, 1.18 ± 0.17, and 1.18 ± 0.17 for tuff/breccia, granitoid and contact metamorphic rocks, respectively, indicate that these three rocks have strong anisotropy characteristics. Finally, the effect of thermal conductivity anisotropy on heat flow is studied and discussed in detail, showing that the results of thermal conductivity tests have a significant effect on the calculation of heat flow and thermal structure, and the data show that a deviation of about 10% in thermal conductivity causes a deviation of about 11% in heat flow, which may lead to a misperception of deep thermal structure studies. The regular and anisotropic characteristics of thermal conductivity of various rocks in Eastern China obtained in this paper can provide parameter support for projects such as heat flow calculations, thermal structure studies, and geothermal resource development and utilization.

The thermal conductivity of a stratum is a key factor to study the deep temperature distribution and the thermal structure of the basin. A huge expense of core sampling from boreholes, especially in offshore areas, makes it expensive to directly test stratum samples. Therefore, the use of well logging (the gamma-ray, the neutron porosity, and the temperature) to estimate the thermal conductivity of the samples obtained from boreholes could be a good alternative. In this study, we measured the thermal conductivity of 72 samples obtained from an offshore area as references. When the stratum is considered to be a shale–sand–fluid model, the thermal conductivity can be calculated based on the mixing models (the geometric mean and the square root mean). The contents of the shale and the sand were derived from the natural gamma-ray logs, and the content of the fluid (porosity) was derived from the neutron porosity logs. The temperature corrections of the thermal conductivity were performed for the solid component and the fluid component separately. By comparing with the measured data, the thermal conductivity predicted based on the square root model showed good consistency. This technique is low-cost and has great potential to be used as an application method to obtain the thermal conductivity for geothermal research.

Geothermal energy has been recognized as an important clean renewable energy. Accurate assessment of geothermal resources is an essential foundation for their development and utilization. The North Jiangsu Basin (NJB), located in the Lower Yangtze Craton, is shaped like a wedge block of an ancient plate boundary and large-scale carbonate thermal reservoirs are developed in the deep NJB. Moreover, the NJB exhibits a high heat flow background because of its extensive extension since the Late Mesozoic. In this study, we used the Monte Carlo method to evaluate the geothermal resources of the main reservoir shallower than 10 km in the NJB. Compared with the volumetric method, the Monte Carlo method takes into account the variation mode and uncertainties of the input parameters. The simulation results show that the geothermal resources of the sandstone thermal reservoir in the shallow NJB are very rich, with capacities of (6.6–12) × 10²⁰ J (mean 8.6 × 10²⁰ J), (5.1–16) × 10²⁰ J (mean 9.1 × 10²⁰ J), and (3.2–11) × 10²⁰ J (mean 6.6 × 10²⁰ J) for the Yancheng, Sanduo and Dai’nan sandstone reservoir, respectively. In addition, the capacity of the geothermal resource of the carbonate thermal reservoir in the deep NJB is far greater than the former, reaching (9.9–15) × 10²¹ J (mean 12 × 10²¹ J). The results indicate capacities of a range value of (1.2–1.7) × 10²¹ J (mean 1.4 × 10²² J) for the whole NJB (<10 km).