Combined Large-NSeismic Arrays and DAS Fiber Optic Cables across the Hengill Geothermal Field, Iceland

• DOI: 10.1785/0220220073
• Publication Date: 2022-07-13T16:40:20Z
• Authors: Anne Obermann; Pilar Sánchez-Pastor; Sin-Mei Wu; Christopher Wollin; Alan F. Baird; Marius Paul Isken; John Clinton; Bettina P. Goertz...; Torsten Dahm; Andreas Wuestefeld; Peidong Shi; Federica Lanza; Lea Gyger; Selina Wetter; Vala Hjörleifsdóttir; Nadege Langet; Baldur Brynjarsson; Philippe Jousset; Stefan Wiemer
• Keywords: 550; ddc:550; Institut für Geowissenschaften; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

AbstractFrom June to August 2021, we deployed a dense seismic nodal network across the Hengill geothermal area in southwest Iceland to image and characterize faults and high-temperature zones at high resolution. The nodal network comprised 498 geophone nodes spread across the northern Nesjavellir and southern Hverahlíð geothermal fields and was complemented by an existing permanent and temporary backbone seismic network of a total of 44 short-period and broadband stations. In addition, we recorded distributed acoustic sensing data along two fiber optic telecommunication cables near the Nesjavellir geothermal power plant with commercial interrogators. During the time of deployment, a vibroseis survey took place around the Nesjavellir power plant. Here, we describe the network and the recorded datasets. Furthermore, we show some initial results that indicate a high data quality and highlight the potential of the seismic records for various follow up studies, such as high-resolution event location to delineate faults and body- and surface-wave tomographies to image the subsurface velocity structure in great detail.