Drilling Earthquakes For Love And Energy

Media release 14 September 2009

Drilling Earthquakes For Love And Energy

The connection between geothermal energy production and minor earthquakes will be explored in the first public lecture in New Zealand by Professor Peter Malin.

Professor Malin is director of the Institute of Earth Sciences and Engineering (IESE) at The University of Auckland. He relocated to Auckland from Duke University in the United States in 2007 to set up the Institute, which undertakes research and development into earth sciences in New Zealand and internationally.

The Faculty of Engineering hosts his inaugural lecture as a new Professor at the University, titled: "Drilling earthquakes for love and energy: Alpine Fault, San Andreas Fault, and geothermal power."

A grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand has enabled Professor Malin to assemble a world-leading team in New Zealand to conduct research and development in underground imaging. The project is known as the “Underground Eye” for its main theme of “looking” with geophysical methods at what surface soils and rock hide below our feet.

Professor Malin and his laboratory have developed, for example, highly sensitive monitoring equipment to measure microearthquakes, which occur underground but are not felt on the earth’s surface. As part of the Underground Eye project, the devices are placed in boreholes. They provide exceptionally detailed monitoring of the occurrence of such events, which can even be produced by injection or removal of fluids – oil, gas, and even geothermal waters – as well as the movements of the earth’s plates. The resulting data is valuable to the growing international geothermal energy industry as it helps to determine the best regions for drilling.

The IESE has monitoring equipment in the Taupo region and overseas, notably on the San Andreas Fault in the United Sates, in Iceland, Switzerland and Hawaii.

“Flowing water down a deep drill hole can create very small earthquakes,” Professor Malin says. “We are asking ‘what exactly are the channels that cause geothermal steam to flow, allow oil to be pumped, gas to escape, and the earth to shake? And how are they connected?’

“This work represents basic research and development worldwide, with practical applications for the energy sector as well as government agencies charged with monitoring,” Professor Malin says.

Professor Peter Malin’s inaugural lecture is on Thursday 17 September 2009, 6pm to 7pm at the Faculty of Engineering, 20 Symonds Street, Lecture Theatre 1.439. It is free and open to the public.

ENDS

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