TITLE:
Tectonic Control of the Theistareykir Geothermal Field by Rift and Transform Zones in North Iceland: A Multidisciplinary Approach
AUTHORS:
Maryam Khodayar, Sveinbjörn Björnsson, Sigurður Garðar Kristinsson, Ragna Karlsdóttir, Magnús Ólafsson, Skúli Víkingsson
KEYWORDS:
Northern Rift Zone of Iceland, Tjörnes Transform Zone, Tectonic Control of Geothermal Activity, Fractured Reservoir, Earthquakes, Resistivity Anomalies
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Geology,
Vol.8 No.6,
June
20,
2018
ABSTRACT: This paper presents a multidisciplinary structural analysis of a 165 km2 area in the Northern Rift Zone and the Tjörnes Fracture Zone of Iceland, and unravels the tectonic control of the Theistareykir geothermal field and its surroundings. About 10729 fracture segments (faults, open fractures, joints) are identified in the upper Tertiary to Holocene igneous series. The segments were extracted from aerial images and hillshade, and then analyzed in terms of number of sets, geometry, motions, frequency, and relative age. The correlation with surface geothermal manifestations, resistivity, earthquakes, and occasional well data reveals the critical regional and local fractures at the surface, reservoir level and greater depth. The main conclusions of this study are: 1) The structural pattern consists of N-S rift-parallel extensional fractures and the Riedel shears of the transform zone striking NNE, ENE, E-W, WNW and NW, which compartmentalize together the blocks at any scale. 2) The en échelon segmentation shows strike and oblique slips on the Riedel shears, with a dextral component on the WNW and NW planes and a sinistral component on the NNE to ENE faults. 3) Fractures form under the influence of the transform mechanism and the effect of rifting becomes significant only with time. 4) The WNW dextral oblique-slip Stórihver Fault of the transform zone has a horsetail splay that extends eastwards into the geothermal field. There, this structure, along with few NW, ENE, NNE and N-S fractures, controls the alteration, alignment of fumaroles, emanating deep gases. These fractures also rupture during natural or induced earthquakes. 5) The resistivity anomalies present en échelon geometries controlled by the six fracture sets. These anomalies display clockwise and anticlockwise rotations within the upper 8 km crustal depth, but at 8 km depth, only three sets (the N-S rift structures, and the E-W and the NW Riedel shears) are present at the rift and transform plate boundaries. Results of this study are relevant to resource exploration in other complex extensional contexts where rift and transform interact.ööö