Formation of a New Geothermal Field in the Area of the Nizhne (Lower)-Koshelevsky Geothermal Deposit (South Kamchatka): a Natural or Man-Made Phenomenon?статья
Аннотация:Formation of new geothermal anomalies in historical time is rather a rare phenomenon. For the most part, such anomalies are formed due to activation of magma activity (e.g., heating of active volcanoes' slopes) or hydrothermal processes (emergence of new thermal water springs, fumaroles, funnels from hydrothermal explosions). Thermal anomalies most frequently form within the known geothermal fields due to natural reasons; sometimes it occurs due to drilling or field development. In most cases the nature of such phenomena is obvious. Starting increasingly from the 1960s, geological-geophysical, geochemical, geobotanical and other works have been carried out within the Nizhne (Lower)-Koshelevsky vapour-dominated geothermal deposit and the thermal anomaly of the same name, already known in the 18th century. In 2008, an occurrence of a new thermal anomaly named as Nizhne (Lower)-Koshelevsky New Thermal Field (NKN) was recorded. Vegetation and soil was scorched in an area of 200 х 200 meters, the temperature of soils in the central part of the field reached 100-107 оС. In 2009-2013, we carried out temperature and geochemical (Hg-metering) mapping on this site; composition and properties of deluvial sediments in the most heated part of the field and its outskirts were studied; magnetometric survey and electrical exploration were conducted, i.e. everything for monitoring of NKN parameter changes and resolution of the origin question.
