There is a need to tap hydrothermal geothermal energy from deep underground as a new renewable energy source. On the other hand the City of Lucerne has industrial heat sources (waste incineration plant, steel industry) the waste heat energy of which could be stored in the underground over the year and be reused for heating purposes in winter time. This two topics requires profound knowledge of the 3D underground geological framework including the distribution of target rocks and their permeabilities or the occurrence of fault and fracture zones.
Together with local industry partners, this MSc study will explore the suitability of Lucerne’s deeper underground as a source of geothermal energy and for such heat storage capabilities. For this purpose, the MSc study requires the following seps. (1) Collection and compilation of available geological data from literature. (2) Remote imaging-based detection of potential fault zones. (3) Identification and quantitative analysis of fault zones and fault patterns in the field. (4) Building up of a 2D GIS model (map and database) based on the information gained during the previous steps. (5) Building of a 3D geological model of the underground of the City of Lucerne.
The MSc study will be supervised by the group of Structural Geology and Tectonics (Prof. Dr. Marco Herwegh, Dr. Timothy Schmid) and closely accompanied by industry partners. Given the urgency of the project, there exists the opportunity for a half year employment for conducting steps (1-5) on which then in a second step the Master thesis can be written on.
Advisors: Prof. Marco Herwegh, Dr. Timothy Schmid, Prof. Alfons Berger
Specialities: GEOL
University: BE