Bilateral Project Italy-Taiwan

Progetto Bilaterale ITALIA-TAIWAN

"Geochemical tracers and indicators for the evaluation of geothermal resources" is a Joint Research Project between National Council of Research of Italy and Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, funded for 2 years (2016-2017).

Geochemical tracers, i.e. ions, molecules or isotopes not affected by secondary chemical reactions once entering a geological system such a geothermal reservoir, and geoindicators, i.e. ions, molecules or isotopes expected to participate at secondary chemical reactions at controlled physical-chemical conditions, are useful parameters, which can successfully be applied to thermal water and gas discharges during geothermal exploration for estimating i) the geochemical features of geothermal reservoirs and ii) their equilibrium temperature and redox conditions. The main aim of the present proposal is that to depict a geological-geochemical conceptual model in the Ilan area (northern-eastern Taiwan), where this approach has not been applied, although geophysical studies and preliminary geochemical data have indicated this area as a potentially favorable site for geothermal exploitation. The previously described concepts will be applied to two Italian hydrothermal systems: a) the active volcanic system of Vulcano (characterized by relatively high temperature fumarolic discharges) and b) the extinct volcanic complex of Vicano-Cimini since previous investigations have suggested this area is a not exploited geothermal field.

Italian coordinator: Orlando Vaselli, IGG-CNR;
Taiwanese coordinator: Sheng-Rong Song, Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University.

Partners: CNR (Italy) and MoST (Taiwan).