Posted on 12/09/2006 8:55:36 PM PST by HAL9000
A small earthquake that struck Basel on Friday was caused by drilling work for a planned power plant that would produce electricity from heat in the Earth's crust.The canton Basel-City prosecutor has launched an investigation to find if the company behind the Deep Heat Mining project can be held responsible for any possible damage.
The tremor was felt shortly before 6 pm and measured 3.4 on the Richter scale according to the Swiss Seismological Service.
The local police and fire departments received hundreds of phone calls from worried citizens, and some buildings suffered from cracks and broken tiles. Nobody was injured said a police spokesman.
Basel is one of the areas in Switzerland most prone to seismic activity. In 1356, the city was almost entirely destroyed by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake.
The cause of the tremor wasn't quite what the locals had expected though. Deep Heat Mining is being named as the culprit.
The project's promoters plan to build a geothermal power plant. It is supposed to recover heat by pumping water deep into the Earth's crust and use it to generate electricity.
Water has been injected into rocks five kilometres below the surface since the beginning of the month. The authorities had been warned that some minor tremors could take place according to René Kinderhauser of Geopower Basel, the company behind the project.
Between the time when water was first injected and the Friday tremor, the seismological service registered 36 small tremors, including five with magnitudes of between two and three.
More were recorded on Saturday, bringing the total to 100. The seismological service said it was unlikely they would cause any damage.
Drilling work was stopped on Friday morning after one tremor hit 2.7 on the Richter scale. But everyone was surprised by the strength of the earthquake that struck in the late afternoon.
The project is now on hold while the data from the incident is analysed. There is no word on what the experts' conclusions might be.
Kinderhauser could not say if Deep Heat Mining was under threat after this tremor.
Prosecution
The prosecutor's office launched its investigation on Friday evening, aimed at those responsible for the current phase of the geothermal project. The police has already seized computer data.
The judicial authorities will now try to decide whether any laws have been broken and if to prosecute anyone. They will also verify if Deep Heat Mining can be held responsible for any damage.
The pilot project is the first commercial endeavour worldwide to attempt recovering heat using the so-called hot fractured rock technique.
To extract energy from hot dry rock, water is injected from the surface through boreholes into hot granite underground. The water heats as it flows through cracks in the rock and when it returns to the surface as steam, it is used to generate electricity.
Other boreholes were drilled earlier this year in Basel, to measure any potential earthquake activity.
The plan, if the project is successful, is to build a power plant delivering heat to 2,700 homes and electricity to around 10,000.
Geopower estimates that it will cost SFr80 million ($66.3 million) to build the installation. Canton Basel-City and energy suppliers are among the investors.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
I know there was a movie about this once, but I can't remember the name.
Uh, yeah, how many godzilla-type movies began in just such fashion?
"Basel is one of the areas in Switzerland most prone to seismic activity."
A bit difficult to prove that they were actually responsible...
Obviously the largest fault in the world. Starts in Texas, moves up to DC, zig zags throughout the entire United States, then over to Switzerland.
A Crack In The World
Yep...there were some truly big quakes in Switzerland in the Middle Ages and Roman Times, including one that destroyed much of Basel in 1356 that was probably between M 6.0 and 7.0.
Also have been fairly large tsunamis caused by earthquakes in Lake Lucerne.
There's probably a lot of old unreinforced masonry buildings which are more vulnerable to earthquakes than anything else.
There's a joke in there that I think I wont touch.
Thank you! That's the one!
I suppose.
I figured it would have been from Michael Moore deciding to take a morning jog.
Basel is the most dull city I've ever visited. They could use a little excitement!
A lawyer's dream come true. Wait until the lawyers in the U.S. find out about this. They'll all be heading to California and Alaska.
Funny how it doesn't show up on earthquake maps.
Geothermal Explorers Ltd
http://www.geothermal.ch/eng/projekt.html
The aim is to develop at first co-generation power plant from an enhanced geothermal reservoir. Projected is a power production of 3 MWe and a heat production of 20 MWe for the local district heating grid.
From the article:
The plan, if the project is successful, is to build a power plant delivering heat to 2,700 homes and electricity to around 10,000.
Geopower estimates that it will cost SFr80 million ($66.3 million) to build the installation.
http://www.aga.org/Content/NavigationMenu/About_Natural_Gas/How_to_Measure_Natural_Gas/How_to_Measure_Natural_Gas.htm
Looking at larger quantities, 1 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas is enough to meet the needs of approximately 10,000 - 11,000 American homes for one year.
1 billion (1,000,000,000 cubic feet (1 bcf) = 1.027 trillion Btu
Northern Illinois gas rates are approximately one cent ($.01) per cubic foot delivered. (IIRC)
What do they do with the waste heat in the summer?
They filter out any man made disturbances.
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