Sources of subsidence at the Salton Sea Geothermal Field

摘要: At the Salton Sea Geothermal Field (SSGF) in Southern California, surface deformation associated with geologic processes including sediment compaction, tectonic strain, and fault slip may be augmented by energy production activities. Separating relative contributions from natural anthropogenic sources is especially important at SSGF, which sits apex of a complex transition zone connecting southern San Andreas Fault Imperial Fault; but this has been challenging task so far. Here we analyze vertical velocities obtained persistent scatterer InSAR method find that two largest subsidence anomalies can represented set volumetric strain nuclei depths comparable to geothermal well completion zones. In contrast, rates needed achieve an adequate fit magnitudes are almost order magnitude greater than reported for annual changes aggregate net-production volume, suggesting physical mechanism responsible SSGF complicated interplay between sources.