Aqueous chemistry of typical geothermal springs with deep faults in Xinyi and Fengshun in Guangdong Province, China

Abstract

This paper investigated aqueous chemistry for two geothermal spring groups responsive and sensitive to flow fluctuations induced by earthquakes. Quake monitorings are favored for their being in residential areas with well-preserved natural flow systems in Xinyi City’s Xijiang Hot Springs and Fengshun County’s Shihu Hot Spring. The hot springs are typical in temperatures and flow rates in southern China’s Guangdong Province. Physical and chemical conditions deep down in the heat sources are important constraints on earthquake, fluid flow, reactive solute transport and heat transfer, but remain challenging to address via field observations and numerical experiments. In this paper, we made daily and annual observations on flow rates, temperature, and/or aqueous chemistry. We employed strontium isotopes as tracers for the water sources, equilibrium phase diagram for K-feldspar and albite stability, and Na-K-Mg diagram for heat reservoir temperatures. The abundant sulfite content in Xijiang Hot Springs is discussed. Our main finding are that the deep fault springs are characterized by low reduction-oxidation potential at around −200- −150 mV and relatively large daily flow variations. The results provide scientific background features on the field sites regarding earthquake monitoring and predictions and geothermal reservoir.

Keywords

geothermal / hot spring / aqueous geochemistry / earthquake monitoring / geothermal reservoir temperature / reduction oxidation potential / Xinyi / Fengshun

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