" Development and prospect of geothermal energy in the United States and the role of geophysical monitoring "
By Dr. Xiaowei Chen, Associate Professor of Geophysics, Texas A&M University.

Geothermal energy is clean and renewable, and can be a significant part of global energy production if fully developed. A geothermal reservoir needs three ingredients: fluid, heat and permeability. In areas with natural hydrothermal system, conventional geothermal fields have been developed. In some other areas with low permeability and lack of natural fluid, enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) can be developed via stimulation. Induced seismicity is a common problem associated with geothermal field development. In this presentation, I will provide an overview and prospect of geothermal energy development, and discuss the role of geophysical monitoring in geothermal industry. The first example is a conventional geothermal field in southern California, where both induced seismicity and tectonic seismicity occur. Using an improved catalog from local borehole network, different characteristics of seismicity inside and outside the geothermal field is investigated. The second example is the EGS projects at the UTAH FORGE and CAPE sites. I will first review the history of FORGE development, and the geophysical monitoring network for EGS systems. Then I will discuss the results of fracture mapping from Phase 2C stimulation using seismic waves, and complex fracture networks illuminated through high-resolution focal mechanism solutions from the two neighboring EGS sties. 

Dr. Xiaowei Chen received her Ph.D. in Geosciences from University of California, San Diego in 2013. Dr. Chen joined the Department of Geology & Geophysics at Texas A&M university as an Associate Professor in August 2022, and currently hold the Berg Robert Professorship. Prior to Texas A&M, Dr. Chen has been an assistant and endowed associate professor at the University of Oklahoma (OU) from 2015 to 2022. Dr. Chen’s research focuses on observational seismology and earthquake source processes. Her current research focuses on earthquake interactions in complex fault networks, and fluid-fault interactions for natural and anthropogenic earthquake sequences. Dr. Chen currently serves as associate editor for JGR-Solid Earth and secretary for Eastern-Section Seismological Society of America.