Structural compartmentalisation of a geothermal system, the Torre Alfina field (central Italy)

Recent surging of renewed industrial interest in the exploration of low and medium enthalpy geothermal fields makes the accurate assessment of the geothermal potential essential to minimise uncertainties during both exploration and exploitation. The Torre Alfina field is a case of abandoned, but promising, geothermal field of central Italy where the roles of the internal structural setting and of the recharge areas on the hydrothermal circulation are largely unconstrained. In this paper, field structural data integrated with geomorphic lineament analysis document the occurrence of post-orogenic deformation structures controlling the compartmentalisation of the Torre Alfina geothermal field. Strike-slip and subordinate normal fault systems (with associated network fractures) cut and dislocate the internal architecture of the reservoir and prevent its hydraulic connection with Mount Cetona, considered to be the recharge area and where hydrothermal manifestation, including travertine deposition, occurs. 230Th/234U radiometric dating of superposed travertine units gives 200, 120 and 90ka respectively, inferred to correspond to the age of the fossil hydrothermal circulation during tectonic activity. The results have been used for illustrating a new geological conceptual model for the Torre Alfina area where the geothermal system is composed of different compartments. Tectonic structures define the main boundaries between compartments, helping the understanding of why productive and non-productive wells were found in apparently similar structural settings within the Torre Alfina field. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.