Geodynamic and tectonic processes interacting across scales are the key engines in shaping the structural, thermal and petrological configuration of the crust and lithosphere. They constantly modify the thermal, hydraulic and mechanical rock properties, ultimately leading to a heterogenous endowment of (often co-located) subsurface resources.
Supporting the transition to sustainable low-carbon economies at scale poses significant challenges and opportunities for the global geoscience community. Improved integration and tighter interdisciplinary understanding of the subsurface processes that can provide access to alternative energy supplies and critical raw materials is needed, as are unifying science-backed exploration strategies and resource assessment workflows.
This session aims to improve our scientific understanding of the pathways and interdependencies that lead to the concentration of economic quantities of energy carriers or noble gases, mineral resources, and the formation of exploitable geothermal reservoirs. Further, it also focuses on providing input for exploration decision-making and scientific input for policy making as well as for the strategic planning of collaborative research initiatives.
We invite studies on observational data analysis, instrumentation, numerical modeling, laboratory experiments, and geological engineering, with an emphasis on integrated approaches/datasets which address the geological history of such systems as well as their spatial characteristics for sub-topics such as:
- Geothermal systems: key challenges in successfully exploiting geothermal energy are related to observational gaps in lithological heterogeneities and tectonic (fault) structures and sweet-spotting zones of sufficient permeability for fluid extraction.
- Geological (white/natural) hydrogen (H2) and helium (He) resources: potential of source rocks, conversion kinetics, migration and possible accumulation processes through geological time, along with detection, characterisation, and quantification of sources, fluxes, shallow subsurface interactions and surface leakage.
- Ore deposits: To meet the global continued demand for metal resources, new methods are required to discover new ore deposits and assess the spatio-temporal and geodynamic characteristics of favourable conditions to generate metallogenic deposits, transport pathways, and host sequences.