A Multidisciplinary and InteGRated Approach for geoThermal Exploration
One of the greatest challenges facing our society is countering the rapid advance of climate change. Geothermal energy is a resource potentially available anywhere, anytime. However, its full development is hampered by a complete understanding of the subsurface. Research can support the energy transition by providing innovative, reliable, and cost-effective exploration methods.
MIGRATE is a multidisciplinary project structured around the three distinct yet complementary domains of geology, seismology, and artificial intelligence. MIGRATE's goal is to streamline upper crust exploration procedures by developing new analysis methods that eliminate arbitrariness while significantly increasing reproducibility and reliability, all while answering relevant scientific questions.
MIGRATE proposes using noise generated by oceans, storms, and anthropogenic activities as seismic sources that will be recorded by dense networks of seismic instruments. This approach will improve depth resolution while reducing logistics and acquisition costs. Specifically, new geological methods will study the presence of magma at depth and provide geological models of the upper crust at regional and geothermal reservoir scales. The seismic data inversion workflow will be automated using machine learning methods. The automated model will be compared with a research-based inversion of ambient noise and interpreted using the geological model and analysis of local microseismicity. This workflow will be applied to study geothermal systems hosted in the interior of the Northern Apennines. This geological context offers a wealth of geophysical and well data that will help constrain and evaluate our models and the opportunity to answer unresolved scientific questions regarding the interaction between magmatic intrusions and associated geothermal systems.
MIGRATE will have a major impact on our society, radically changing the way subsurface exploration is conducted. This approach can be applied to investigate the upper crust, with fundamental implications for understanding broader geological processes such as volcanic systems and mineral deposits. Furthermore, affordable, high-resolution passive seismic exploration can promote the further development of other renewable solutions, such as heat and carbon dioxide storage.