Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Curaçao:

Geothermally Powered Curacao – Reality or Deep Pipedream (Curacao Chronicle)

In view of some recent press reports, several people have asked for my opinion on whether Curaçao realistically has any geothermal energy potential. As reported in Amigoe (10 December and 5 January), specifically this refers to an apparent proposal received by Aqualectra to drill a very deep 7,000 meter geothermal well on the island.

Firstly, I must say, I was as surprised as probably many to read this. There are no known hot springs or any evidence of surface geothermal activity. While the island has a volcanic (diabase) core this is 90 million years old, and cooled significantly during exhumation (uplift) about 50 million years ago when it was accreted to the South American plate. There are no obvious major faults as potential hot fluid conduits, and any younger sediments form a thin uplifted rim around the island with no aquifer or shallow to even moderate level geothermal potential.

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