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The Seben–Kesenözü low-temperature geothermal prospect, NW Turkey: study of an advective geothermal system

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Abstract

The Kesenözü thermal springs are located in northwestern Turkey, about 10 km south of Seben. The springs emerge from a fracture zone created by strike-slip faulting that strikes north–northwest, along the Hamamboğazi Creek, in northwestern Anatolia. The reservoir comprises a steeply dipping fracture zone and deep, feeding aquifers hosted by limestones and conglomerates of the Kesenözü Formation. Eight springs and one shallow well discharge thermal water at a total rate of about 44 l/s with temperatures between 42 and 78 °C. The waters are of neutral pH, NaHCO3 type. The meteoric origin of the spa waters is evident from their chemical and isotopic (18O, 2H, 3H) compositions. The thermal system is driven by deep-reaching advective flows where rainwater becomes heated on descent, and after deep paths ascend along fractures that act as hydrothermal conduits. It can be described as an advective geothermal system. Silica (chalcedony) geothermometry indicates equilibrium temperatures between 89 and 94 °C. A recently drilled deep well encountered similar temperatures at about 2 km depth. The minimum heating power potential (direct use) of the fracture zone reservoir is about 10 MWth.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Research Foundation of the Kocaeli University (Bap Grant No: 2000/21). The author thanks Manfred P. Hochstein for his critical review and comments on the manuscript. The author also likes to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their critical, kind and constructive comments which improved the manuscript.

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  1. Faculty of Engineering, Geological Engineering Department, University of Kocaeli, Izmit, Turkey

    Suzan Pasvanoğlu

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  1. Suzan Pasvanoğlu
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Pasvanoğlu, S. The Seben–Kesenözü low-temperature geothermal prospect, NW Turkey: study of an advective geothermal system. Environ Earth Sci 74, 363–376 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4041-3

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