PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE GEOTHERMAL POTENTIAL IN THE APUSENI MOUNTAINS AREA

Authors

  • Alin-Marius NICULA Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. *Corresponding author: marius_alin92@yahoo.com
  • Artur IONESCU Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; University of Perugia, Department of Physics and Geology, Perugia, Italy. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2543-2155
  • Ioan-Cristian POP Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
  • Iancu ORӐȘEANU Romanian Association of Hydrogeologists, Bucharest, Romania.
  • Călin BACIU Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1142-0620

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbambientum.2019.2.04

Keywords:

thermal water, geothermal potential, Apuseni Mountains, renewable resources.

Abstract

The Apuseni Mountains have a particular geological structure which gives distinctive geothermal features. They are located between the well-developed geothermal zone of the Pannonian Basin, and the Transylvanian Basin, which is a cold zone. Little information is available in the literature about the geothermal systems from this region. The synthesis of the literature data, combined with our field measurements show there is significant geothermal potential in the area. The thermal water sources are located along a NW-SE alignment. During the field campaigns, the flow rates and temperatures of the water sources were measured. A total flow rate of about 33 l/s was calculated for the study area at an average temperature of about 34 ◦C. The total thermal energy released by these sources by comparison to the common groundwater is more than 100,000 GJ/year. This geothermal potential could be used as sustainable energy sources for different activities, as agriculture (fish farming, greenhouses), heating (residential and administrative buildings), tourism and balneotherapy.

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STUDIA UBB AMBIENTUM, 64(LXIV), 2, 2019

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Published

2019-12-30

How to Cite

NICULA, A.-M., IONESCU, A., POP, I.-C., ORӐȘEANU I., & BACIU, C. (2019). PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE GEOTHERMAL POTENTIAL IN THE APUSENI MOUNTAINS AREA . Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Ambientum, 64(2), 45–56. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbambientum.2019.2.04

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Volume 64, No. 2, December 2019

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Articles

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