Geothermal Technoecosystems and Water Cycles in Arid Lands Item Type text; Book Authors Duffield, Christopher, 1949- Publisher Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) Download date 04/10/2021 09:32:55 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/239312 Arid Lands Resource Information Paper No. 8 GEOTHERMAL TECHNOECOSYSTEMS AND WATER CYCLES IN ARID LANDS by Christopher Duffield The University of Arizona OFFICE OF ARID LANDS STUDIES Tucson, Arizona 85721 1976 The work upon which this publicationis based was supported in part by fundsprovided by The U.S.Department of the Interior /Office of WaterResearch and Technology as authorized under The Water Resources Research Act of1964, as amended Symbols Geothermalsystems) Regions(afterGEOTHERMAL Geonomics,1975(except geopressured REGIONS *) AND ARID LANDS* Geothermal OF beingTHE WORLD developed) Powerplant(after (existing Mehta,1976 or *) AridMcGinnies, and Semiarid Goldman, Lands and (after Paylore,1968 Meigs in *) MajorGeonomics,l975PetersonResources Non -Electric and (compiled El- *) Ramley,1975Use from of GeothermalMehta,1976 *; and *; CONTENTS Page Foreword Preface ii Acknowledgments iv Abstract v I. INTRODUCTION TO TECHNOECOLOGY i 1.Macrovision i 2.Technoecosystem, Technospecies, and Technoecology 3 3.Technoecosystem Territory 3 4.Technoecosystem Sectors 5 5.Technoecosystem Leverage 6 6.Technoecosystem as Macro -Medium 7 7.Popular Technoecology 8 8.Intellectual Technoecology 9 9.Bio- Techno Comparison 11 10.Thermodynamics, Energy, and Money (Once in Forever) 13 11. New Modules 15 12.Technoecosystem Niches, Evolution, and Succession 17 13.Military Technoecosystems 21 14.Arid Lands Technoecosystems 24 15.Future of Technoecology 26 II. EARTH CYCLES 28 1.Cosmic Heat . 28 2.Concentration 29 3.Rock Engine 31 4.Earth Cycles and Life 33 5.Ore, Oil, and Aridity 34 6.Geothermal Resource Configurations 35 7.Roles of Water . 40 III. GEOTHERMAL TECHNOECOSYSTEMS . 41 1.General Characteristics 41 2.Exploration, the Macro -Hunt 44 3.Drilling 47 4.Resource Extraction 48 5.Power Cycles 50 6.Water Cycles 51 7.Other Uses 54 8.Complex Technoecosystems 56 9.Environmental Effects 59 10.Thermodynamics, Succession, and Evolution 62 11.Portrait of the Industry 65 IV. LIMITS OF THE NICHE 68 1.Magnitudes 68 2,Killing the Goose 74 3. A Better Volcano? 77 V. IMPERIAL VALLEY 80 1.Natural Environment 80 2.Macroscale Technoecology 83 3.Geothermal Niche Opening OOOOO 87 4.Macroscale Geothermal Water and Power Technoecosystems 91 5.Niche Limits 96 Page VI. DEVELOPING REGIONS 102 1.Roles of Geothermal Technoecosystems 102 2.Specific Applications 103 VII. EPILOGUE 105 SUPPLEMENTARY REFERENCES . 108 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 113 Author Index 191 Keyword Index 194 ILLUSTRATIONS Geothermal Regions and Arid Lands of the World Frontispiece Figures: 1.Some energy circuit language modules 14 2.Two -stage energy transformation chain with energy quality increasing downstream 15 3.Energy circuit modules for man and technoecosystem 15 4.Creation and growth of technoecosystem 17 5.Macroscale roles of military technoecosystems 22 6.Energy diagram of geothermal- powered geological systems . 30 7.Environmental effects and net energy of geothermal technoecosystems 63 Tables: 1.Geothermal resource types 36 2.Global energy flow rates of geological, industrial, and biological systems 69 3.United States energy flow rates of geological and industrial systems 71 4.Global geothermal energy storage magnitudes 73 5.United States geothermal energy storage magnitudes 74 6.Natural geothermal energy flows and storages in Imperial Valley, California 97 7.More geothermal energy flows and storages in Imperial Valley 98 FOREWORD The Arid Lands Resource Information Paper presented here, the sixth prepared for the Water Resources Scientific Information Center ( WRSIC), was supported in part by U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Water Research and Technology Grant No. 14 -31- 0001 -5254, to the University of Arizona, Office of Arid Lands Studies, Patricia Paylore, Principal Investigator. [Two other Papers, Nos. 5 and 7 in the series, were funded by another Federal agency.] Arid Lands Resource Information Paper No. 2, "Exploration and Exploitation of Geothermal Resources in Arid and Semiarid Lands," first issued in 1973, is now out -of- print. The intent of the present Paper was to revise that earlier literature review with its annotated bibliography, by recognizing the unusual developments in this field in the interim, with new geothermal fields dis- covered, new demands for geothermal energy as an alternative source to more conventional sources, and an astonishing number of new publications reflecting accelerated research. As the knowledgeable reader of this new Paper will sense, however, the author has gone far beyond a simple update by offering us an innovative and we believe a completely new position from which to view this exotic energy source and contemporary efforts to develop it.To many of us, the young are ordinarily looked upon as reckless and extremist, but this is not the first time I have found the young looking beyond today, or even tomorrow, to think critically and soberly about long- term effects instead of short -term benefits.Duffield, native Tucsonan, with a Master's degree in geology and now pursuing the Ph.D. degree in Arid Lands Resource Sciences, is such a person. Like his predecessors in this series: Casey (No. 1, 1972), Sherbrooke (No. 3, 1973), Chalmers (No. 4, 1974), and Bowden (No. 6, 1975), Duffield has been bold to challenge conventional technical wisdom, but I do not think I have been foolhardy to support him and those others.I believe this is the purpose of education - to experiment, create, disagree, learn, and provoke, within a frame- work of severe discipline.This Paper satisfies me that it too is a worthy example of such attitudes. I wish once more to thank the National Science Foundation for its early funding of the development of the computer program which now handles so successfully the Arid Lands Information System (ALIS ). The extensive bibliography accompanying this Paper was produced by ALIS, and includes over one hundred references prepared by the Office of Arid Lands Studies originally under previous OWRT/ WRSIC grants. These, and others where users are referred to SWRA [ Selected Water Resources Abstracts ]in lieu of abstracts, are taken from RECON, ERDA's Oak Ridge -based information system. While Duffield and I are grateful to OWRT /WRSIC for their support of the Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona, in helping maintain this Office as a U.S. Center of Competence in water -related problems of arid lands, neither the U. S. Department of the Interior nor the University of Arizona is responsible for the views expressed herein. Patricia Paylore Assistant Director Office of Arid Lands Studies The University of Arizona November 22, 1976 PREFACE Why have you opened this book? If you are attracted by one of the key concepts in the title (geothermal, technoecosystems, water cycles, arid lands) then there is something here for you.This is an ambitious and multifaceted work designed for a very diverse audience, yet in its structure it is a unified whole.Naturally, I hope that you will have time and broad enough interest to read the entire text and appreciate its overall scheme. But I realize that for some readers only one or two sections will be especially pertinent and useful.Therefore, to help guide you to the most relevant sections, I will briefly outline the book's goals and underlying organization. My aim has been to comprehensively review the literature on geothermal resources and the technology for exploiting them, with particular attention to arid lands and the various roles of water. But more than that, I have tried to develop a single holistic intellectual framework within which all this diverse detailed technical information can be rationally and intuitively and esthetically synthesized, and within which any future geothermal discoveries and activities can be easily comprehended. The new framework I have come up with, what I call "technoecology ", is based on the close analogy between biological ecosystems and large complex industrial systems ( "technoecosystems "), and may actually transcend in importance and universal applicability the geothermal review which it structures. The book has three major divisions: the first chapter, the rest of the text, and the bibliography.Chapter I presents, for the first time in print, the basic structure and major insights of technoecology at its present embryonic stage of development. Subsequent chapters apply technoecological methods and language in an extensive overview of geothermal topics. Those who are interested only in technoecology need read just the first chapter; however, they will miss a concrete application and extension of its principles. Geothermal purists can start reading at Chapter II, but they may find them- selves bewildered by unfamiliar terminology and concepts.Clearly, these two parts of the book comple- ment and enhance each other. The 300 -item annotated bibliography not only supports the text and its literature citations, but should also be useful in itself -- its computerized indexes offer rapid access to the geothermal literature. Here are a few highlights of the geothermal review: Chapter II traces geothermal heat back to its astrophysical origins billions of years ago. And geological details of natural geothermal reservoirs are organized by a new unifying concept of hierarchically cascaded convection