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Dry-Steam Power Plants 133

with steam. Whereas the steam also contains gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen
sulfide, methane, and others in trace amounts, there is little or no liquid present. The
steam appears to have either magmatic or meteoric origins. The first possibility
involves the slow evolution of vapor from magma chambers located at great depth and
at very high temperatures close to that of molten rock [3]. The second one involves
the percolation of rainwater through faults and fractures to great depth where it
encounters high temperature rock [2].
Measurements of the relative amounts of various isotopes of water, H216O, H218O,
17
H2 O, and HDO, in geothermal fluid samples, compared to the natural amounts of
the same isotopes, indicate that the most likely source of the fluids in geothermal reser-
voirs is meteoric waters [4]. This simple conclusion must be tempered by the uncer-
tainty arising from the possible mixing of meteoric fluids that have percolated to great
depths with magmatic vapors, making it difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish one
from the other once the fluids have reached the surface.
The mechanism of fluid behavior in a dry-steam reservoir is complex and several
models have been proposed [2
9]. The emerging consensus is that there are three
sources for the steam that is seen in the production wells. The first contribution comes
from steam residing in fissures and fractures in competent rock. The second comes from
the vaporization of liquid that formed as condensate from steam that has come
in contact with the cooler lateral and upper boundaries of the reservoir. The last one
arises from evaporation off the top of a deep brine reservoir over a prolonged period
of steam production which causes a decrease in reservoir pressure [8,9].
These mechanisms are depicted schematically in Fig. 7.2. Note that the lateral
boundaries of the vapor-dominated reservoir are seen as being highly impermeable.
If this were not true, liquid would flood the steam zone from the sides, collapsing the
steam in the formation. The only liquid in the steam zone comes from the condensate
and water trapped in fissures that have only limited vertical extent. A production well
provides a preferential flow path allowing the removal of steam and causing a cone of
depression in the pressure in the surrounding formation. This pressure reduction leads
to further steam generation by causing the trapped liquid to evaporate. In this way
the formation may eventually completely dry out, leaving only the condensate and the
deep liquid as the sole means to provide additional steam.
The natural recharge enters the system primarily through the lateral boundaries
that may be demarcated by major faults with significant offsets. Surface water
then can reach the depth of the liquid-dominated zone. If the rate of recharge is
less than the rate of production, the deep liquid zone will retreat to even greater
depth as the reduced pressure causes more and more evaporation to occur. The
initial presence of the steam zone is thought to be attributable to just such an
imbalance between the natural steam loss through the upper layers of the forma-
tion relative to the natural recharge. In their natural states prior to exploitation,
both the Larderello and The Geysers fields were marked by extensive surface
thermal manifestations such as fumaroles, mud volcanos, steam-heated pools, and
steaming, acid-altered ground and rocks [10
12]. Over time, the permeability
of the near-surface formation decreases as minerals precipitate from the geofluid
and seal the fissures and fractures that had originally served as fluid conduits.
Many authors have cited the close correlation between the observed temperatures
in dry-steam reservoirs and the temperature that corresponds to the maximum