United Kingdom: Geothermal Potential of the Mountains of the Mourne

Geothermal potential of granitic rocks of the Mourne Mountains (NERC)

South-east County Down and north County Louth: total magnetic intensity anomaly.

The Palaeogene Mourne Mountains Complex in County Down is a potential geothermal energy resource due to the high levels of radioactivity in its granitic rocks. The regional Tellus geochemical and geophysical surveys mapped the radioelement distribution of the rocks at surface. Follow-up investigations confirmed the heat potential of these, some of the most radioactive rocks in the island of Ireland, and investigated their depth extent by electromagnetic (magnetotelluric, MT) depth sounding.

The high radiogenic heat production and the modelled thicknesses of granites are favourable factors for the enhanced geothermal system (EGS) potential of the Mournes, although the measured geothermal gradients and calculated heat flows are lower than those in comparable EGS targets

Ture, Mohammednur; Reay, Derek; Muller, Mark; Yeomans, Chris; Ayres, Laura. 2016 Geothermal potential of granitic rocks of the Mourne Mountains. In: Young, M.E., (ed.) Unearthed: impacts of the Tellus surveys of the north of Ireland. Dublin, Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, 129-144, 16pp.

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