Migration characteristics of geothermal fluids in karst geothermal reservoirs in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Plain

Abstract

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Plain is among the regions in China that feature the largest scale and the fastest growth in medium and deep geothermal heating. Based on tests of 82 geothermal fluid samples from 7 geothermal fields in Hebei Province, 2 geothermal fields in Henan Province, and 2 geothermal fields in Shandong Province, and combined with previous studies on the chemical characteristics of karst geothermal water in Beijing and Tianjin, this paper systematically analyzes the migration characteristics of geothermal fluids in karst geothermal reservoirs within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Plain. The hydrochemical characteristics of karst geothermal water in the research areas exhibit certain differences. The geothermal water in Hebei is more mature than that in its neighboring provinces. The distribution of total dissolved solids (TDS) and strontium elements in the area is characterized by being low in the north and south and high in the middle, suggesting that the overall flow direction of geothermal fluid is from the north and south towards the middle. Combined with the groundwater flow field and the changing trend of the hydrochemical characteristics of geothermal wells along the geological section, a geothermal water migration model has been established. The geothermal fluids originating from Taihang Mountain, Yanshan Mountain, and Western Shandong Mountain enter the basin and continue to migrate towards the central part of the basin along water-conducting faults. However, the migration characteristics of geothermal fluids with the same supply direction are not identical. The geothermal fluids from Taihang Mountain are cut off by the Niudong Fault in the north and terminate in the central uplift belt of the Jizhong Depression, while in the south, they enter the east of the Jizhong Depression relatively quickly along the Hengshui Conversion Belt. The geothermal fluids from Yanshan Mountain migrate into the basin along the Cangdong Fault, yet this fault also disrupts the hydraulic connection between the tectonic units. Considering the effective dynamic conditions, it is recommended to further expand the scale of the scientific development and utilization of geothermal energy in the geothermal water catchment areas around Xiongxian County and southwest Cangzhou City.

Keywords

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Plain / Karst geothermal reservoirs / Migration characteristic / Geothermal fluid / Sustainable development

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Xiang Mao: Writing - review & editing, Writing - original draft, Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Software, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. Jinxia Liu: Visualization, Validation, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Lu Luo: Validation, Supervision. Shaochuan Sun: Writing - review & editing, Writing - original draft, Visualization, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Chenbingjie Wu: Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Software, Conceptualization. Nanan Gao: Visualization, Validation, Project administration, Methodology, Formal analysis. Huiying Liu: Supervision, Project administration, Conceptualization. Rui Liu: Supervision.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the joint financial support received from the National Major Special Project titled ''Exploration and Evaluation of Deep Geothermal Energy in Key Regions" (Project No. 2024ZD1003600) and the Science and Technology Department of Sinopec (Project No. JP24071). These grants have been instrumental in enabling us to undertake this research with the necessary resources and facilities. The financial assistance provided by these funding bodies has not only facilitated the acquisition of essential data and equipment but also supported the collaboration among researchers from diverse backgrounds. We are deeply thankful for their commitment to advancing scientific research and fostering innovation in the field of geothermal energy exploration.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2025.102104.

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