Introduction

Compared to size the globe, the earth's crust is 1/200 of its radius. But this "film" is the most complex in structure and still the most mysterious formation our planet. The main feature of the crust is that it serves as a boundary layer between the globe and the surrounding us. outer space. In this transitional zone between the two elements of the universe - the cosmos and the substance of the planet - the most complex physical and chemical processes constantly took place, and, what is remarkable, the traces of these processes have largely been preserved.

The main objectives of the work are:

Consider the main types of the earth's crust and its components;

Define tectonic structures the earth's crust;

Consider the mineral composition of the earth's crust and rocks.

The structure and thickness of the earth's crust

The first ideas about the existence of the earth's crust were expressed by the English physicist W. Gilbert in 1600. They were asked to divide the interior of the Earth into two unequal parts: the crust or shell and the solid core.

The development of these ideas is contained in the works of L. Descartes, G. Leibniz, J. Buffon, M. V. Lomonosov and many other foreign and domestic scientists. At the beginning, the study of the earth's crust was focused on the study of the earth's crust of the continents. Therefore, the first models of the crust reflected the structural features of the continental type crust.

The term "earth's crust" was introduced in geographical science Austrian geologist E. Suess in 1881 (8) In addition to this term, this layer has another name - sial, composed of the first letters of the most common elements here - silicon (silicium, 26%) and aluminum (aluminum, 7.45%) .

In the first half of the 20th century, the study of the structure of the subsoil began to be carried out using seismology and seismics. Analyzing the nature of seismic waves from the earthquake in Croatia in 1909, the seismologist A. Mohorovicic, as already mentioned, identified a clearly traceable seismic boundary at a depth of about 50 km, which he defined as the sole of the earth's crust (the surface of Mohorovicic, Moho, or M).

In 1925, V. Konrad recorded above the Mohorovicich boundary another section surface inside the crust, which also received his name - the Konrad surface, or the K surface - the boundary between the "granite" and "basalt" layers is the Konrad section.

The scientists proposed to call the upper layer of the crust with a thickness of about 12 km "granite layer", and the lower layer with a thickness of 25 km - "basalt". The first two-layer model of the structure of the earth's crust appeared. Further research made it possible to measure the thickness of the crust in different areas continents. It was found that in low-lying areas it is 35? 45 km, and in the mountains it increases to 50? 60 km ( maximum power crust - 75 km recorded in the Pamirs). Such a thickening of the earth's crust was called "mountain roots" by B. Gutenberg.

It was also established that the granite layer has a seismic wave velocity of 5 6 km / s, characteristic of granites, and the lower one - 6? 7 km/s, typical for basalts. The earth's crust, consisting of granite and basalt layers, was called the consolidated crust, on which there is another, upper, sedimentary layer. Its power varied within 0? 5–6 km (the maximum thickness of the sedimentary layer reaches 20 × 25 km).

A new step in the study of the structure of the earth's crust of the continents was made as a result of the introduction of powerful explosive sources of seismic waves.

In 1954 G.A. Gamburtsev developed a method of deep seismic sounding (GSZ), which made it possible to "enlighten" the bowels of the Earth to a depth of 100 km.

Seismic studies began to be carried out according to special profiles, which made it possible for scientists to obtain continuous information about the structure of the earth's crust. The seismic survey was carried out in coastal zones seas and oceans, and in the early 60s, global studies began with this method of the bottom of the oceans. The idea of ​​the existence of two fundamentally various types crust: continental and oceanic.

The GSZ materials allowed Soviet geophysicists (Yu.N.Godin, N.I.Pavlinkova, N.K.Bulin, etc.) to refute the notion of the existence of the ubiquitously sustained Konrad surface. This was also confirmed by the drilling of the Kola super-deep well, which did not reveal the bottom of the granite layer at the depth indicated by geophysicists.

Ideas began to develop about the existence of several interfaces such as the Konrad surface, the positions of which were determined not so much by a change in the composition of crystalline rocks, but by a different degree of their metamorphism. Thoughts were expressed that in the composition of the granite and basalt layers of the earth's crust essential role metamorphic rocks play (Yu.N. Godin, I.A. Rezanov, V.V. Belousov, etc.).

The increase in the speed of seismic waves was explained by an increase in the basicity of rocks and to a large extent their metamorphism. Thus, the "granite" layer should contain not only granitoids, but also metamorphic rocks (such as gneisses, micaceous schists, etc.) that arose from primary sedimentary deposits. The layer began to be called granite-metamorphic, or granite-gneiss. It was understood as a set of igneous and sedimentary-metamorphic rocks, composition and phase state which cause physical parameters close to those of unaltered granites or granitoids, i.e. density of the order of 2.58? 2.64 g/cm and reservoir velocity 5.5? 6.3 km/s.

The presence of rocks of the deep (granulite) stage of metamorphism was allowed in the composition of the "basalt" layer. It began to be called granulite-mafic, granulite-eclogitic, and understand it as a set of igneous and metamorphosed rocks of medium, basic or similar composition, having physical parameters: density 2.8? 3.1 g/cm, reservoir velocity 6.6? 7.4 km/s. Judging by experimental data, fragments (xenoliths) of deep rocks from explosion pipes, this layer can be composed of granulites, gabbroids, basic gneisses, and eclogite-like rocks.

The terms "granite" and "basalt" layer remained in circulation, but they were put in quotation marks, thus emphasizing the conventionality of their composition and name.

The modern stage of development of ideas about the structure of the earth's crust of the continents began in the 80s of the last century and is characterized by the creation of a three-layer model of the consolidated crust. Studies by a number of domestic (N.I. Pavlenkova, I.P. Kosminskaya) and foreign (S. Mueller) scientists proved that in the structure of the earth's crust of continents, in addition to the sedimentary layer, it is necessary to distinguish, according to at least, three, not two, layers: top, middle and bottom (Fig. 1).

The top layer, with a capacity of 8? 15 km, is marked by an increase in the speed of seismic waves with depth, block structure, the presence of relatively numerous cracks and faults. Sole layer with speeds of 6.1? 6.5 km/s is defined as the boundary of K. According to some scientists, the upper layer of the consolidated crust corresponds to the granite-metamorphic layer in the two-layer model of the crust.

The second (middle) layer to depths of 20 25 km (sometimes up to 30 km) is characterized by a slight decrease in the velocity of elastic waves (about 6.4 km/s), the absence of velocity gradients. Its sole stands out as the boundary of K. It is believed that the second layer is composed of rocks of the basalt type, so it can be identified with the "basalt" layer of the crust.

Fig.1

The third (lower) layer, traced to the base of the crust, is high-speed (6.8 × 7.7 km/s). It is characterized by thin layering and an increase in velocity gradient with depth. It is represented by ultramafic rocks, so it cannot be attributed to the "basalt" layer of the crust. There are suggestions that the lower layer of the crust is a product of the transformation of the substance of the upper mantle, a kind of mantle weathering zone (N.I. Pavlenkova). AT classical model the structure of the crust, the middle and lower layers make up the granulite-mafic layer.

The structure and thickness of the earth's crust within the various regions of the continents vary somewhat. Thus, the following structural features are characteristic of the earth's crust, deep platform depressions, and foredeeps: a large thickness of the sedimentary layer (up to half the thickness of the entire crust); thinner and more high-velocity consolidated crust than in other parts of the platforms; the elevated position of the M surface. The upper (“granite”) layer of the consolidated crust often wedges out or sharply thins within them, and the thickness of the middle layer is also significantly reduced.

In our country, rich in hydrocarbons, geothermal energy is a kind of exotic resource that, in the current state of affairs, is unlikely to compete with oil and gas. Nevertheless, this alternative form of energy can be used almost everywhere and quite efficiently.

Geothermal energy is the heat of the earth's interior. It is produced in the depths and comes to the surface of the Earth in different forms and with different intensity.

The temperature of the upper layers of the soil depends mainly on external (exogenous) factors - sunlight and air temperature. In summer and during the day, the soil warms up to certain depths, and in winter and at night it cools down following the change in air temperature and with some delay, increasing with depth. The influence of daily fluctuations in air temperature ends at depths from a few to several tens of centimeters. Seasonal fluctuations capture deeper layers of soil - up to tens of meters.

At a certain depth - from tens to hundreds of meters - the temperature of the soil is kept constant, equal to the average annual air temperature near the Earth's surface. This is easy to verify by going down into a fairly deep cave.

When the average annual air temperature in a given area is below zero, this manifests itself as permafrost (more precisely, permafrost). AT Eastern Siberia The thickness, that is, the thickness, of year-round frozen soils reaches 200–300 m in places.

From a certain depth (its own for each point on the map), the action of the Sun and the atmosphere weakens so much that endogenous (internal) factors come first and the earth's interior is heated from the inside, so that the temperature begins to rise with depth.

The heating of the deep layers of the Earth is associated mainly with the decay of the radioactive elements located there, although other sources of heat are also named, for example, physicochemical, tectonic processes in the deep layers of the earth's crust and mantle. But whatever the cause, the temperature of rocks and associated liquid and gaseous substances increases with depth. Miners face this phenomenon - it is always hot in deep mines. At a depth of 1 km, thirty-degree heat - normal phenomenon, and the temperature is even higher deeper.

The heat flow of the earth's interior, reaching the surface of the Earth, is small - on average, its power is 0.03–0.05 W / m 2, or approximately 350 W h / m 2 per year. On the background heat flow from the Sun and the air heated by it, this is an imperceptible quantity: the Sun gives everyone square meter earth's surface about 4,000 kWh annually, that is, 10,000 times more (of course, this is an average, with a huge spread between polar and equatorial latitudes and depending on other climatic and weather factors).

The insignificance of the heat flow from the depths to the surface in most of the planet is associated with the low thermal conductivity of rocks and features geological structure. But there are exceptions - places where the heat flow is high. These are, first of all, zones of tectonic faults, increased seismic activity and volcanism, where the energy of the earth's interior finds a way out. Such zones are characterized by thermal anomalies of the lithosphere, here the heat flow reaching the Earth's surface can be many times and even orders of magnitude more powerful than the "usual" one. A huge amount of heat is brought to the surface in these zones by volcanic eruptions and hot springs of water.

It is these areas that are most favorable for the development of geothermal energy. On the territory of Russia, this is, first of all, Kamchatka, Kurile Islands and the Caucasus.

At the same time, the development of geothermal energy is possible almost everywhere, since the increase in temperature with depth is a ubiquitous phenomenon, and the task is to “extract” heat from the bowels, just as mineral raw materials are extracted from there.

On average, the temperature increases with depth by 2.5–3°C for every 100 m. The ratio of the temperature difference between two points lying at different depths to the difference in depth between them is called the geothermal gradient.

The reciprocal is the geothermal step, or the depth interval at which the temperature rises by 1°C.

The higher the gradient and, accordingly, the lower the step, the closer the heat of the Earth's depths approaches the surface and the more promising this area is for the development of geothermal energy.

In different areas, depending on the geological structure and other regional and local conditions, the rate of temperature increase with depth can vary dramatically. On the scale of the Earth, fluctuations in the values ​​of geothermal gradients and steps reach 25 times. For example, in the state of Oregon (USA) the gradient is 150°C per 1 km, and in South Africa- 6°C per 1 km.

The question is, what is the temperature at great depths - 5, 10 km or more? If the trend continues, temperatures at a depth of 10 km should average around 250–300°C. This is more or less confirmed by direct observations in ultradeep wells, although the picture is much more complicated than the linear increase in temperature.

For example, in the Kola superdeep well drilled in the Baltic Crystalline Shield, the temperature changes at a rate of 10°C/1 km to a depth of 3 km, and then the geothermal gradient becomes 2–2.5 times greater. At a depth of 7 km, a temperature of 120°C has already been recorded, at 10 km - 180°C, and at 12 km - 220°C.

Another example is a well laid in the Northern Caspian, where at a depth of 500 m a temperature of 42°C was recorded, at 1.5 km - 70°C, at 2 km - 80°C, at 3 km - 108°C.

It is assumed that the geothermal gradient decreases starting from a depth of 20–30 km: at a depth of 100 km, the estimated temperatures are about 1300–1500°C, at a depth of 400 km - 1600°C, in the Earth's core (depths of more than 6000 km) - 4000–5000° C.

At depths up to 10–12 km, temperature is measured through drilled wells; where they do not exist, it is determined by indirect signs in the same way as at greater depths. Such indirect signs may be the nature of the passage of seismic waves or the temperature of the erupting lava.

However, for the purposes of geothermal energy, data on temperatures at depths of more than 10 km are not yet of practical interest.

There is a lot of heat at depths of several kilometers, but how to raise it? Sometimes nature itself solves this problem for us with the help of a natural coolant - heated thermal waters, coming to the surface or lying at a depth accessible to us. In some cases, the water in the depths is heated to the state of steam.

There is no strict definition of the concept of "thermal waters". As a rule, they mean hot groundwater in a liquid state or in the form of steam, including those that come to the Earth's surface with a temperature above 20 ° C, that is, as a rule, higher than the air temperature.

The heat of groundwater, steam, steam-water mixtures is hydrothermal energy. Accordingly, energy based on its use is called hydrothermal.

The situation is more complicated with the production of heat directly from dry rocks - petrothermal energy, especially since sufficiently high temperatures, as a rule, begin from depths of several kilometers.

On the territory of Russia, the potential of petrothermal energy is a hundred times higher than that of hydrothermal energy - 3,500 and 35 trillion tons of standard fuel, respectively. This is quite natural - the warmth of the Earth's depths is everywhere, and thermal waters are found locally. However, due to obvious technical difficulties, most of the thermal waters are currently used to generate heat and electricity.

Water temperatures from 20-30 to 100°C are suitable for heating, temperatures from 150°C and above - and for the generation of electricity in geothermal power plants.

In general, geothermal resources on the territory of Russia, in terms of tons of standard fuel or any other unit of energy measurement, are about 10 times higher than fossil fuel reserves.

Theoretically, only geothermal energy could fully meet the energy needs of the country. Practically on this moment in most of its territory, this is not feasible for technical and economic reasons.

In the world, the use of geothermal energy is most often associated with Iceland - a country located at the northern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, in an extremely active tectonic and volcanic zone. Probably everyone remembers powerful eruption Eyjafjallajokull volcano ( Eyjafjallajokull) in 2010.

It is thanks to this geological specificity that Iceland has huge reserves of geothermal energy, including hot springs that come to the surface of the Earth and even gushing in the form of geysers.

In Iceland, more than 60% of all energy consumed is currently taken from the Earth. Including due to geothermal sources, 90% of heating and 30% of electricity generation are provided. We add that the rest of the electricity in the country is produced by hydroelectric power plants, that is, also using a renewable energy source, thanks to which Iceland looks like a kind of global environmental standard.

The "taming" of geothermal energy in the 20th century helped Iceland significantly economically. Until the middle of the last century, it was a very poor country, now it ranks first in the world in terms of installed capacity and production of geothermal energy per capita, and is in the top ten in terms of absolute installed capacity of geothermal power plants. However, its population is only 300 thousand people, which simplifies the task of switching to environmentally friendly clean sources energy: the need for it is generally small.

In addition to Iceland, a high share of geothermal energy in general balance sheet electricity generation is provided in New Zealand and the island states of Southeast Asia (Philippines and Indonesia), the countries of Central America and East Africa, the territory of which is also characterized by high seismic and volcanic activity. For these countries, at their current level of development and needs, geothermal energy makes a significant contribution to socio-economic development.

The use of geothermal energy has a very long history. One of the first famous examples- Italy, a place in the province of Tuscany, now called Larderello, where, at the beginning of the 19th century, local hot thermal waters, flowing naturally or extracted from shallow wells, were used for energy purposes.

Water from underground sources, rich in boron, was used here to obtain boric acid. Initially, this acid was obtained by evaporation in iron boilers, and ordinary firewood was taken as fuel from nearby forests, but in 1827 Francesco Larderel created a system that worked on the heat of the waters themselves. At the same time, the energy of natural water vapor began to be used for the operation of drilling rigs, and at the beginning of the 20th century, for heating local houses and greenhouses. In the same place, in Larderello, in 1904, thermal water vapor became energy source to get electricity.

The example of Italy at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century was followed by some other countries. For example, in 1892, thermal waters were first used for local heating in the United States (Boise, Idaho), in 1919 - in Japan, in 1928 - in Iceland.

In the United States, the first hydrothermal power plant appeared in California in the early 1930s, in New Zealand - in 1958, in Mexico - in 1959, in Russia (the world's first binary GeoPP) - in 1965 .

An old principle at a new source

Electricity generation requires a higher water source temperature than heating, over 150°C. The principle of operation of a geothermal power plant (GeoES) is similar to the principle of operation of a conventional thermal power plant (TPP). In fact, a geothermal power plant is a type of thermal power plant.

At thermal power plants, as a rule, coal, gas or fuel oil act as the primary source of energy, and water vapor serves as the working fluid. The fuel, burning, heats the water to a state of steam, which rotates the steam turbine, and it generates electricity.

The difference between the GeoPP is that the primary source of energy here is the heat of the earth's interior and working body in the form of steam enters the turbine blades of the electric generator in a "ready" form directly from the production well.

There are three main schemes of GeoPP operation: direct, using dry (geothermal) steam; indirect, based on hydrothermal water, and mixed, or binary.

The use of one or another scheme depends on the state of aggregation and the temperature of the energy carrier.

The simplest and therefore the first of the mastered schemes is the direct one, in which the steam coming from the well is passed directly through the turbine. The world's first GeoPP in Larderello in 1904 also operated on dry steam.

GeoPP with indirect scheme jobs are the most common these days. They use hot underground water, which is pumped under high pressure into an evaporator, where part of it is evaporated, and the resulting steam rotates a turbine. In some cases, additional devices and circuits are required to purify geothermal water and steam from aggressive compounds.

The exhaust steam enters the injection well or is used for space heating - in this case, the principle is the same as during the operation of a CHP.

At binary GeoPPs, hot thermal water interacts with another liquid that acts as a working fluid with a lower boiling point. Both liquids are passed through a heat exchanger, where thermal water evaporates the working liquid, the vapors of which rotate the turbine.

This system is closed, which solves the problem of emissions into the atmosphere. In addition, working fluids with a relatively low boiling point make it possible to use not very hot thermal waters as a primary source of energy.

All three schemes use a hydrothermal source, but petrothermal energy can also be used to generate electricity.

The circuit diagram in this case is also quite simple. It is necessary to drill two interconnected wells - injection and production. Water is pumped into the injection well. At depth, it heats up, then heated water or steam formed as a result of strong heating is supplied to the surface through a production well. Further, it all depends on how the petrothermal energy is used - for heating or for the production of electricity. A closed cycle is possible with the pumping of exhaust steam and water back into the injection well or another method of disposal.

The disadvantage of such a system is obvious: in order to obtain a sufficiently high temperature of the working fluid, it is necessary to drill wells to a great depth. And this is a serious cost and the risk of significant heat loss when the fluid moves up. Therefore, petrothermal systems are still less common than hydrothermal ones, although the potential of petrothermal energy is orders of magnitude higher.

Currently, the leader in the creation of the so-called petrothermal circulating systems (PCS) is Australia. In addition, this direction of geothermal energy is actively developing in the USA, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Japan.

Gift from Lord Kelvin

The invention of the heat pump in 1852 by the physicist William Thompson (aka Lord Kelvin) provided mankind with a real opportunity to use the low-grade heat of the upper layers of the soil. The heat pump system, or heat multiplier as Thompson called it, is based on physical process heat transfer from environment to the coolant. In fact, it uses the same principle as in petrothermal systems. The difference is in the source of heat, in connection with which a terminological question may arise: to what extent can a heat pump be considered a geothermal system? The fact is that in the upper layers, to depths of tens or hundreds of meters, the rocks and the fluids contained in them do not heat up. deep warmth earth, but the sun. Thus, it is the sun this case- the primary source of heat, although it is taken, as in geothermal systems, from the ground.

The operation of a heat pump is based on the delay in the heating and cooling of the soil compared to the atmosphere, as a result of which a temperature gradient is formed between the surface and deeper layers, which retain heat even in winter, similar to what happens in reservoirs. The main purpose of heat pumps is space heating. In fact, it is a “refrigerator in reverse”. Both the heat pump and the refrigerator interact with three components: the internal environment (in the first case - a heated room, in the second - a cooled refrigerator chamber), the external environment - an energy source and a refrigerant (refrigerant), which is also a coolant that provides heat transfer or cold.

A substance with a low boiling point acts as a refrigerant, which allows it to take heat from a source that has even a relatively low temperature.

In the refrigerator, the liquid refrigerant enters the evaporator through a throttle (pressure regulator), where, due to a sharp decrease in pressure, the liquid evaporates. Evaporation is an endothermic process requiring heat to be absorbed from outside. As a result, heat is taken from the inner walls of the evaporator, which provides a cooling effect in the refrigerator chamber. Further from the evaporator, the refrigerant is sucked into the compressor, where it returns to the liquid state of aggregation. This is the reverse process, leading to the release of the extracted heat during external environment. As a rule, it is thrown into the room, and the back wall of the refrigerator is relatively warm.

The heat pump works in almost the same way, with the difference that heat is taken from the external environment and enters through the evaporator. internal environment- room heating system.

In a real heat pump, water is heated, passing through an external circuit laid in the ground or a reservoir, then enters the evaporator.

In the evaporator, heat is transferred to an internal circuit filled with a refrigerant with a low boiling point, which, passing through the evaporator, changes from a liquid state to a gaseous state, taking heat.

Next, the gaseous refrigerant enters the compressor, where it is compressed to high pressure and temperature, and enters the condenser, where heat exchange takes place between the hot gas and the coolant from the heating system.

The compressor requires electricity to operate, however, the transformation ratio (the ratio of energy consumed and produced) in modern systems is high enough to ensure their efficiency.

Currently, heat pumps are widely used for space heating, mainly in economically developed countries.

Eco-correct energy

Geothermal energy is considered environmentally friendly, which is generally true. First of all, it uses a renewable and practically inexhaustible resource. Geothermal energy does not require large areas, unlike large hydroelectric power plants or wind farms, and does not pollute the atmosphere, unlike hydrocarbon energy. On average, GeoPP occupies 400 m 2 in terms of 1 GW of electricity generated. The same figure for a coal-fired thermal power plant, for example, is 3600 m 2. The environmental benefits of GeoPPs also include low water consumption - 20 liters of fresh water per 1 kW, while thermal power plants and nuclear power plants require about 1000 liters. Note that these are the environmental indicators of the "average" GeoPP.

But there are still negative side effects. Among them, noise is most often distinguished, thermal pollution atmosphere and chemical - water and soil, as well as the formation of solid waste.

The main source of chemical pollution of the environment is the thermal water itself (with high temperature and salinity), often containing large amounts of toxic compounds, and therefore there is a problem of disposal of waste water and hazardous substances.

The negative effects of geothermal energy can be traced at several stages, starting with the drilling of wells. Here, the same dangers arise as when drilling any well: destruction of the soil and vegetation cover, pollution of the soil and groundwater.

At the stage of operation of the GeoPP, the problems of environmental pollution persist. Thermal fluids - water and steam - typically contain carbon dioxide (CO 2), sulfur sulfide (H 2 S), ammonia (NH 3), methane (CH 4), table salt(NaCl), boron (B), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg). When released into the environment, they become sources of pollution. In addition, an aggressive chemical environment can cause corrosion damage to GeoTPP structures.

At the same time, pollutant emissions at GeoPPs are on average lower than at TPPs. For example, carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated are up to 380 g at GeoPPs, 1042 g at coal-fired thermal power plants, 906 g at fuel oil and 453 g at gas-fired thermal power plants.

The question arises: what to do with waste water? With low mineralization, after cooling, it can be dumped into surface water. The other way is to pump it back into the aquifer through an injection well, which is the preferred and predominant practice at present.

The extraction of thermal water from aquifers (as well as pumping out ordinary water) can cause subsidence and ground movements, other deformations of geological layers, and micro-earthquakes. The probability of such phenomena is usually low, although individual cases have been recorded (for example, at the GeoPP in Staufen im Breisgau in Germany).

It should be emphasized that most of the GeoPPs are located in relatively sparsely populated areas and in third world countries, where environmental requirements are less stringent than in developed countries. In addition, at the moment the number of GeoPPs and their capacities are relatively small. With a larger development of geothermal energy environmental risks can grow and multiply.

How much is the energy of the Earth?

Investment costs for the construction of geothermal systems vary greatly. wide range- from 200 to 5000 dollars per 1 kW of installed capacity, that is, the cheapest options are comparable to the cost of building a thermal power plant. They depend, first of all, on the conditions of occurrence of thermal waters, their composition, and the design of the system. Deep drilling, creation closed system with two wells, the need for water treatment can multiply the cost many times over.

For example, investments in the creation of a petrothermal circulation system (PTS) are estimated at 1.6–4 thousand dollars per 1 kW of installed capacity, which exceeds the construction costs nuclear power plant and comparable to the cost of building wind and solar power plants.

The obvious economic advantage of GeoTPP is a free energy carrier. For comparison, in the cost structure of an operating thermal power plant or nuclear power plant, fuel accounts for 50–80% or even more, depending on current energy prices. Hence, another advantage of the geothermal system: operating costs are more stable and predictable, since they do not depend on the external conjuncture of energy prices. In general, the operating costs of the GeoTPP are estimated at 2–10 cents (60 kopecks–3 rubles) per 1 kWh of generated capacity.

The second largest (and very significant) item of expenditure after the energy carrier is, as a rule, wage plant personnel, which can vary dramatically across countries and regions.

On average, the cost of 1 kWh of geothermal energy is comparable to that for thermal power plants (in Russian conditions - about 1 ruble / 1 kWh) and ten times higher than the cost of electricity generation at hydroelectric power plants (5–10 kopecks / 1 kWh ).

Part of the reason for the high cost is that, unlike thermal and hydraulic power plants, GeoTPP has a relatively small capacity. In addition, it is necessary to compare systems located in the same region and in similar conditions. So, for example, in Kamchatka, according to experts, 1 kWh of geothermal electricity costs 2-3 times cheaper than electricity produced at local thermal power plants.

Indicators economic efficiency The work of a geothermal system depends, for example, on whether it is necessary to dispose of the waste water and in what ways this is done, whether the combined use of the resource is possible. So, chemical elements and compounds extracted from thermal water can give additional income. Recall the example of Larderello: it was chemical production that was primary there, and the use of geothermal energy was initially of an auxiliary nature.

Geothermal Energy Forwards

Geothermal energy is developing somewhat differently than wind and solar. At present, it largely depends on the nature of the resource itself, which differs sharply by region, and the highest concentrations are tied to narrow zones of geothermal anomalies, usually associated with areas of tectonic faults and volcanism.

In addition, geothermal energy is less technologically capacious compared to wind and even more so with solar energy: the systems of geothermal stations are quite simple.

In the overall structure of world electricity production, the geothermal component accounts for less than 1%, but in some regions and countries its share reaches 25–30%. Due to association with geological conditions a significant part of the geothermal energy capacities is concentrated in third world countries, where there are three clusters of the greatest development of the industry - the islands of Southeast Asia, Central America and East Africa. The first two regions are part of the Pacific "Fire Belt of the Earth", the third is tied to the East African Rift. With the greatest probability, geothermal energy will continue to develop in these belts. A more distant prospect is the development of petrothermal energy, using the heat of the earth's layers lying at a depth of several kilometers. This is an almost ubiquitous resource, but its extraction requires high costs, so petrothermal energy is developing primarily in the most economically and technologically powerful countries.

In general, given the ubiquity of geothermal resources and an acceptable level environmental safety, there is reason to believe that geothermal energy has good development prospects. Especially with the growing threat of a shortage of traditional energy carriers and rising prices for them.

From Kamchatka to the Caucasus

In Russia, the development of geothermal energy has a fairly long history, and in a number of positions we are among the world leaders, although the share of geothermal energy in the overall energy balance of a huge country is still negligible.

The pioneers and centers for the development of geothermal energy in Russia were two regions - Kamchatka and the North Caucasus, and if in the first case we are talking primarily about the electric power industry, then in the second - about the use of thermal energy of thermal water.

In the North Caucasus - in the Krasnodar Territory, Chechnya, Dagestan - the heat of thermal waters for energy purposes was used even before the Great Patriotic War. In the 1980s–1990s, the development of geothermal energy in the region, for obvious reasons, stalled and has not yet recovered from the state of stagnation. Nevertheless, geothermal water supply in the North Caucasus provides heat for about 500 thousand people, and, for example, the city of Labinsk in the Krasnodar Territory with a population of 60 thousand people is completely heated by geothermal waters.

In Kamchatka, the history of geothermal energy is associated primarily with the construction of the GeoPP. The first of them, still operating Pauzhetskaya and Paratunskaya stations, were built back in 1965–1967, while the Paratunskaya GeoPP with a capacity of 600 kW became the first station in the world with a binary cycle. It was the development of Soviet scientists S. S. Kutateladze and A. M. Rosenfeld from the Institute of Thermal Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who received in 1965 a copyright certificate for extracting electricity from water with a temperature of 70 ° C. This technology subsequently became the prototype for more than 400 binary GeoPPs in the world.

The capacity of the Pauzhetskaya GeoPP, commissioned in 1966, was initially 5 MW and subsequently increased to 12 MW. Currently, the station is under construction of a binary block, which will increase its capacity by another 2.5 MW.

The development of geothermal energy in the USSR and Russia was hindered by the availability of traditional energy sources - oil, gas, coal, but never stopped. The largest geothermal power facilities at the moment are the Verkhne-Mutnovskaya GeoPP with a total capacity of 12 MW power units, commissioned in 1999, and the Mutnovskaya GeoPP with a capacity of 50 MW (2002).

Mutnovskaya and Verkhne-Mutnovskaya GeoPP are unique objects not only for Russia, but also on a global scale. The stations are located at the foot of the Mutnovsky volcano, at an altitude of 800 meters above sea level, and operate in extreme conditions. climatic conditions, where winter is 9–10 months a year. The equipment of the Mutnovsky GeoPPs, currently one of the most modern in the world, was completely created at domestic enterprises of power engineering.

At present, the share of Mutnovsky stations in the overall structure of energy consumption of the Central Kamchatka energy hub is 40%. An increase in capacity is planned in the coming years.

Separately, it should be said about Russian petrothermal developments. We do not yet have large PDS, however, there are advanced technologies for drilling to great depths (about 10 km), which also have no analogues in the world. Their further development will make it possible to drastically reduce the costs of creating petrothermal systems. The developers of these technologies and projects are N. A. Gnatus, M. D. Khutorskoy (Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences), A. S. Nekrasov (Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and specialists from the Kaluga Turbine Plant. Currently, the petrothermal circulation system project in Russia is at the pilot stage.

There are prospects for geothermal energy in Russia, although they are relatively distant: at the moment, the potential is quite large and the positions of traditional energy are strong. At the same time, in a number of remote regions of the country, the use of geothermal energy is economically profitable and is in demand even now. These are territories with high geoenergy potential (Chukotka, Kamchatka, Kuriles - Russian part the Pacific “Fiery Belt of the Earth”, the mountains of Southern Siberia and the Caucasus) and at the same time remote and cut off from the centralized energy supply.

It is likely that in the coming decades, geothermal energy in our country will develop precisely in such regions.

“We do not know exactly when terrestrial magnetism arose, but it could have happened soon after the formation of the mantle and the outer core. To turn on the geodynamo, an external seed field is required, and not necessarily a powerful one. This role, for example, could be taken by the magnetic field of the Sun, or field of currents generated in the core due to the thermoelectric effect.In the final analysis, it is not too important, there were enough sources of magnetism.In the presence of such a field and roundabout conductive liquid currents, the launch of an intraplanetary dynamo becomes simply inevitable"

David Stevenson, professor at the California Psychological Institute - the largest specialist in planetary magnetism

Earth is a huge generator of inexhaustible electrical energy

Back in the 16th century English doctor and the physicist William Gilbert suggested that the globe is a giant magnet, and the famous French scientist André Marie Ampère (1775-1836), whose name is given to the physical quantity that determines the strength of the electric current, argued that our Planet is a huge a dynamo that generates electricity. At the same time, the Earth's magnetic field is a derivative of this current, which flows around the Earth from west to east, and for this reason the Earth's magnetic field is directed from south to north. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, after a significant number of practical experiments were carried out by the famous scientist and experimenter Nikola Tesla, the assumptions of W. Gilbert and A. Ampère were confirmed. We will talk about some of N. Tesla's experiments and their practical results later, directly in this article.

Interesting data about the huge, in size, electric currents flowing in the depths ocean waters, reported from his work "Go around the hollows" (magazine "Inventor and rationalizer" No. 11. 1980), candidate of technical sciences, author of scientific papers in the fields of mechanical engineering, acoustics, metal physics, radio equipment technology, author of more than 40 inventions - Alftan Erminingelt Alexeyevich. A natural question arises: "What is this natural dynamo and is it possible to use the inexhaustible energy of this generator electric current in the interests of man?" The purpose of this article is to find answers to this and other questions related to this topic.

Section 1 What is the root cause of the electric current inside the Earth? What are the potentials of electric and magnetic fields above the Earth's surface, due to the flow of electric current inside our Planet?

The internal structure of the Earth, its bowels and the earth's crust was formed over billions of years. Under the influence of its own gravitational field, its bowels heated up, and this led to a differentiation of the internal structure of the bowels of the Earth and its shell - the earth's crust in terms of aggregate state, chemical composition and physical properties, as a result of which the bowels of the Earth and its near-Earth space acquired the following structure:

The core of the Earth, located in the center of the inner earth sphere;
- Mantle;
- Earth's crust;
- Hydrosphere;
- Atmosphere;
- Magnetosphere

The Earth's crust, mantle, and the interior of the Earth's core are made up of solid matter. The outer part of the Earth's core consists mainly of a molten mass of iron, with the addition of nickel, silicon and a small amount of other elements. The main type of the earth's crust is continental and oceanic; in the transition zone from the mainland to the ocean, an intermediate crust is developed.

The core of the Earth is the central, deepest geosphere of the Planet. The average core radius is about 3.5 thousand kilometers. The core itself consists of an outer and an inner part (sub-kernel). The temperature in the center of the core reaches about 5000 degrees Celsius, the density is about 12.5 tons/m2, and the pressure is up to 361 GPa. AT last years new, additional information about the core of the Earth appeared. As was established by scientists Paul Richards (Limonte-Doherty Earth Observatory) and Xiaodong Song (University of Illinois), the iron molten core of the Planet, when it rotates around the earth's axis, overtakes the rotation of the rest of the globe by 0.25-0.5 degrees per year. The diameter of the solid, inner part of the nucleus (subnucleus) was determined. It is 2.414 thousand kilometers (magazine "Discoveries and Hypotheses", November. 2005. Kyiv).

At present, the following main hypothesis is being put forward, which explains the occurrence of an electric current inside the molten outer shell of the Earth's core. The essence of this hypothesis is as follows: The rotation of the Earth around its axis leads to the emergence of turbulence in the outer, molten shell of the core, which, in turn, leads to the emergence of an electric current flowing inside the molten iron. I think that as a hypothesis, we can make the following assumption. Since the outer, molten part of the shell of the Earth's core is in constant motion both relative to its sub-core and relative to the outer part - the Earth's Mantle, and this process takes place over a very long period time, there was an electrolysis of the molten, outer part of the Earth's core. As a result of the electrolysis process, a directed movement of free electrons arose, which are present in a huge amount in the molten mass of iron, as a result of which a huge electric current was formed in the closed circuit of the outer core, apparently its value can be estimated at no less than hundreds of millions of amperes and higher. Turn around lines of force electric current, magnetic field lines were formed, shifted relative to the electric current lines of force by 90 degrees. Having passed through the huge thickness of the Earth, the strength of the electric and magnetic fields has decreased significantly. And if we talk specifically about the strength of the Earth's magnetic field lines, then at its magnetic poles, the strength of the Earth's magnetic field is 0.63 gauss.

In addition to the above hypotheses, I hope it would be appropriate to cite the results of research by French scientists, as described in the article "The Core of the Earth" by the author Leonid Popov. The full text of the article is posted on the Internet, and I will give only a small part of the specified text.

"A group of researchers from the universities of Joseph, Fourier and Lyon argue that the inner core of the Earth is constantly crystallizing in the west and melting in the east. The entire mass of the inner core is slowly shifting from the west side to the east at a rate of 1.5 cm per year. The age of the inner solid body the core is estimated at 2-4 billion years, while the earth is 4.5 billion years.

Such powerful processes of solidification and melting obviously cannot but affect the convective flows in the outer core. This means that they affect both the planetary dynamo and the earth's magnetic field and the behavior of the mantle and the movement of the continents.

Isn't this the key to the discrepancy between the speed of rotation of the core and the rest of the planet and the way to explain the accelerating shift of the magnetic poles?" (Internet, topic of the article "The core of the Earth constantly digests itself." Author Leonid Popov. August 9, 2010)

According to the equations of James Maxwell (1831-1879), electric current lines of force are formed around the magnetic field lines, coinciding in their direction with the direction of current movement inside the outer molten core of the Planet. Consequently, both inside the "body" of the Earth and around the near-Earth surface, there must be electric field lines, and the farther the electric (as well as the magnetic field) field is from the Earth's core, the lower the intensity of its lines of force. So actually it should be, and there is real confirmation of this assumption.

Let's open the "Handbook of Physics" by the author A.S. Enokovich (Moscow. Prosveshchenie Publishing House, 1990) and refer to the data given in Table 335 "Physical Parameters of the Earth". Reading:
- Electric field strength
directly at the surface of the Earth - 130 volts / m;
- At a height of 0.5 km on the surface of the Earth - 50 volts / m;
- At a height of 3 km above the Earth's surface - 30 volts / m;
- At a height of 12 km above the Earth's surface - 2.5 volts / m;

Here is the value electric charge Earth - 57-10 in the fourth degree pendant.

Recall that a unit of electricity of 1 coulomb is equal to the amount of electricity passing through transverse section at a current of 1 ampere for a time of 1 sec.

Practically in all sources carrying information about the magnetic and electric fields of the Earth, it is noted that they are of a pulsating nature.

Section 2. Reasons for the occurrence of pulsations of the magnetic and electric force fields of the Planet.

It is known that the intensity of the Earth's magnetic field is not constant and increases with latitude. The maximum intensity of the force lines of the Earth's magnetic field is observed at its poles, the minimum - at the equator of the Planet. It does not remain constant during the day at all latitudes of the Earth. Daily pulsations of the magnetic field are caused by a number of reasons: Cyclic changes in solar activity; orbital motion of the Earth around the Sun; daily rotation of the Earth around its own axis; the influence on the molten mass of the outer core of the Earth of the forces of gravity (gravitational forces) of other planets of the solar system. It is quite clear that the pulsations of the intensity of the magnetic field lines of force, in turn, cause pulsations of the electric field of the Planet. Our Earth, during orbital rotation around the Sun, in an almost circular orbit, either approaches the other planets of the solar system that orbit the Sun in their orbits, then moves away from them to maximum distances. Let us consider specifically how the minimum and maximum distances between the Earth and other planets change. solar system, as they move in their orbits around the Sun:

The minimum distance between the Earth and Mercury is 82x10 to the 9th power of m;
-The maximum distance between them is 217x10 to the 9th degree m;
- The minimum distance between the Earth and Venus is 38x10 to the 9th power of m;
-The maximum distance between them is 261x10 to the 9th degree m;
- The minimum distance between Earth and Mars is 56x10 to the 9th power of m;
-The maximum distance between them is 400x10 to the 9th degree m;
- The minimum distance between the Earth and Jupiter is 588x10 to the 9th power of m;
-The maximum distance between them is 967x10 to the 9th degree m;
- The minimum distance between the Earth and Saturn is 1199x10 to the 9th power of m;
-The maximum distance between them is 1650x10 to the 9th degree m;
- The minimum distance between the Earth and Uranus is 2568x10 to the 9th power of m;
-The maximum distance between them is 3153x10 to the 9th degree m;
- The minimum distance between the Earth and Neptune is 4309x10 to the 9th power of m;
-The maximum distance between them is 4682x10 to the 9th degree m;
- The minimum distance between the Earth and the Moon is 3.56x10 to the 8th power of m;
-The maximum distance between them is 4.07x10 to the 8th degree m;
- The minimum distance between the Earth and the Sun is 1.47x10 to the 11th power of m;
-The maximum distance between them is 1.5x10 to the 11th degree m;

Using known formula Newton and substituting into it data on the maximum and minimum distances between the planets of the solar system and the Earth, data on the minimum and maximum distances between the Earth and the Moon, the Earth and the Sun, as well as reference data on the masses of the planets of the solar system, the Moon and the Sun and data on the magnitude gravitational constant, we determine the minimum and maximum values gravitational forces (gravitational forces) acting on our Planet, and consequently, on its molten core, with orbital motion Earth around the Sun and during the orbital motion of the Moon around the Earth:

The magnitude of the gravitational force between Mercury and the Earth, corresponding to the minimum distance between them - 1.77x10 to the 15th power of kg;
- Appropriate maximum distance between them - 2.5x10 to the 14th degree kg;
- The magnitude of the gravitational force between Venus and the Earth, corresponding to the minimum distance between them - 1.35x10 to the 17th degree of kg;
- Corresponding to the maximum distance between them -2.86x10 to the 15th degree kg;
- The magnitude of the gravitational force between Mars and the Earth, corresponding to the minimum distance between them - 8.5x10 to the 15th power of kg;
- Corresponding to the maximum distance between them - 1.66x10 to the 14th degree of kg;
- The magnitude of the gravitational force between Jupiter and the Earth, corresponding to the minimum distance between them - 2.23x10 to the 17th power of kg;
- Corresponding to the maximum distance between them - 8.25x10 to the 16th degree of kg; - The magnitude of the gravitational force between Saturn and the Earth, corresponding to the minimum distance between them - 1.6x10 to the 16th power of kg;
- Corresponding to the maximum distance between them - 8.48x10 to the 15th degree of kg;
- The magnitude of the gravitational force between Uranus and the Earth, corresponding to the minimum distance between them - 5.31x10 to the 14th degree of kg;
- Corresponding to the maximum distance between them - 3.56x10 to the 16th degree of kg;
- The magnitude of the gravitational force between Neptune and the Earth, corresponding to the minimum distance between them - 2.27x10 to the 14th degree of kg;
- Corresponding to the maximum distance between them - 1.92x10 to the 14th degree of kg;
- The magnitude of the gravitational force between the Moon and the Earth, corresponding to the minimum distance between them - 2.31x10 to the 19th degree of kg;
- Corresponding to the maximum distance between them - 1.77x10 to the 19th degree of kg;
- The magnitude of the gravitational force between the Sun and the Earth, corresponding to the minimum distance between them - 3.69x10 to the 21st degree of kg;
- Corresponding to the maximum distance between them - 3.44x10 to the 21st degree kg;

One can see what huge magnitudes of gravitational forces act on the outer, molten core of the Earth. One can only imagine how these perturbing forces, acting simultaneously with different parties on this molten mass of iron, make it either shrink or increase its cross section and, as a result, cause pulsations of the strengths of both the electric and magnetic fields of the Planet. These pulsations are periodic in nature, their frequency spectrum lies in the infrasonic and very low frequencies.

Also, the process of formation of pulsations of electric and magnetic fields is influenced, though to a lesser extent, by the daily rotation of the Earth around its own axis. Indeed, the gravitational forces of the planets, the Moon, the Sun, which are in this particular period of the day from the side frontal surface Earth, have a somewhat more perturbing effect on the molten mass of the planet's core than in the same period of daily time on the back (rear) side of the core mass. At the same time, the part of the core directed towards the Sun (Moon, planet) is extended towards the object of the disturbing influence, and the back (reverse) side of the molten mass of iron, at the same time, is compressed towards the central solid sub-core of the Earth, reducing its cross section.

Section 3 Can the electric field of the Earth be used for practical purposes?

Before we get an answer to this question, let's try to conduct a mental virtual experiment, the essence of which is as follows. We will place it at an altitude of 0.5 km. from the surface of the Earth (mentally, of course) a metal electrode, the role of which will be played by a flat metal plate with an area of ​​1x1 m2. Let us orient this plate relative to the force lines of the Earth's electric field in such a way that they penetrate its surface, that is, the surface of this plate should be set perpendicular to the force lines of the electric field directed from west to east. The second, exactly the same electrode, we will place in the same way directly at the surface of the Earth. Let's measure the electric potential difference between these electrodes. According to the data given above from the Handbook of Physics, this measured electric potential should be 130v-50v=80 volts.

Let's continue the thought experiment, slightly changing the initial conditions. We will install a metal electrode, which was located directly at the surface of the Earth, on its surface and carefully ground it. Let us lower the second metal electrode into the shaft to a depth of 0.5 km and, as in the previous case, orient it relative to the lines of force of the Earth's electric field. Let us again measure the magnitude of the electric potential between these electrodes. We should see a significant difference in the magnitudes of the measured potentials of the Earth's electric field. And the deeper, inside the Earth, we will lower the second electrode, the higher will be the values ​​of the measured potential differences of the electric field of the Planet. And if we could measure the difference in electric potentials between the outer liquid core of the Earth and its surface, then, apparently, these potential differences, both in voltage and in power, should be enough to meet the electricity needs of the entire population of our Planet.

But everything we talked about, unfortunately, is still being considered in the field of virtual, thought experiments. And now let's turn to the results of practical experiments that were carried out at the beginning of the 20th century by Nikola Tesla and published in his works.

In his laboratory in Colorado Springs (USA), built in the Wardenclyffe area, N. Tesla organized experiments that made it possible to transmit information through the thickness of the Earth to its opposite side. As a basis for the successful implementation of the planned experiment, N. Tesla suggested using the electrical potential of the Planet, since he had made sure a little earlier that the Earth was electrically charged.

To carry out the planned experiments, according to his proposals, tower-antennas were built, up to 60 meters high, with a copper hemisphere on their tops. These copper hemispheres played the role of the same metal electrode, which we spoke about above. The foundations of the constructed towers went underground to a depth of 40 meters, where the buried surface of the earth played the role of a second electrode. The result of the experiments N. Tesla described in his published article "Wireless transmission of electrical energy" (March 5, 1904). He wrote: "It is possible not only to send telegraph messages without wires, but also to convey weak modulations of the human voice across the entire globe and, moreover, to transmit energy in unlimited quantities over any distance and without loss"

And further, in the same article: "In the middle of June, while preparing for another work, I set up one of my step-down transformers with the aim of determining in an innovative way, experimentally, the electric potential of the globe and studying its periodic and random fluctuations. This formed part plan carefully formed in advance.A highly sensitive, automatically actuated device controlling the recording device was connected to the secondary circuit, while the primary was connected to the surface of the Earth ... It turned out that the Earth, in literally of this word, lives by electrical vibrations.

Convincing proof that the Earth is indeed a huge natural generator of inexhaustible electrical energy and this energy is of a pulsating harmonious nature. In some of the few articles on the topic under consideration, it is suggested that earthquakes, explosions in mines and on oil-producing offshore platforms, all these are the results of the manifestation of terrestrial electricity.

On our planet, a significant number of hollow natural formations, leaving deep into the Earth, there are also a significant number of deep mines where practical research can be carried out to determine the possibilities of using electrical energy generated by the natural generator of our Planet. One can only hope that such studies will someday be carried out.

Section 4. What happens to the Earth's electric field when a linear lightning discharges onto its surface?

The results of experiments carried out by N. Tesla convincingly prove that our Planet is a natural generator of inexhaustible electrical energy. Moreover, the maximum potential of this energy is contained within the molten metal shell of the outer core of the Planet and decreases as it approaches its surface and beyond the surface of the Earth. The results of experiments conducted by N.Tesla also convincingly prove that the electric and magnetic fields of the Earth are of a periodic pulsating nature, and the spectrum of pulsation frequencies lies in the range of infrasonic and very low frequencies. And this means the following - by acting on the pulsating electric field of the Earth with the help of an external source of harmonic oscillations, close or equal in frequency to the natural pulsations of the Earth's electric field, it is possible to achieve the phenomenon of their resonance. N. Tesla wrote: "When reducing electric waves to an insignificant amount and achieving necessary conditions resonance, the circuit (discussed above) will work like a huge pendulum, storing indefinitely the energy of the original exciting pulses, and the consequences of exposing the Earth and its conducting atmosphere to uniform harmonic oscillations of radiation, which, as tests in real conditions show, can develop up to to such an extent that they will surpass those achieved by natural manifestations of static electricity "(Article" Wireless transmission of electrical energy "March 6, 1904).

And what is the resonance of vibrations? "Resonance is a sharp increase in the amplitude of steady state forced vibrations when the frequency of external harmonic influence approaches the frequency of one of the natural oscillations of the system "(Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary, ed. "Soviet Encyclopedia". Moscow. 1983)

Nikola Tesla, in his experiments, used both natural and artificial linear lightning discharges, which he and his assistants experimentally created in his laboratory, as a source of external influence to achieve resonance conditions inside the Earth.
What is linear lightning and how can it be used as external source harmonic oscillations capable of creating a resonance of oscillations within the Earth?

Let's open the "Handbook of Physics", table 240. Physical parameters of lightning:
- duration (average) of a flash of a lightning discharge, C - 0.2 sec.
(Note. Lightning is perceived by the eye as a single flash, in reality it is an intermittent discharge, consisting of separate discharges-pulses, the number of which is 2-3, but can reach up to 50).
- diameter (average) of the lightning channel, cm - 16.
- lightning current strength (typical value), A - 2x10 to the 4th degree.
- average length lightning (between the cloud and the Earth), km - 2 - 3.
- potential difference in the event of lightning, V - up to 4x10 to the 9th degree.
- number lightning discharges above the Earth in 1 second - about 100.
Thus, lightning is an electrical impulse of great power and short duration. Specialists working in the field of pulse technology can confirm the following fact - the shorter the pulse duration (the shorter the pulse), the richer the frequency spectrum of harmonic electrical oscillations that form this pulse. Therefore, lightning, which is a short-term impulse of electrical energy, includes a number of harmonic electrical oscillations that lie in a wide frequency range, including infra-low and very low frequencies. In this case, the maximum pulse power is distributed precisely in the region of precisely these frequencies. And this fact means that the harmonic oscillations that occur when a linear lightning discharges onto the Earth's surface can provide a resonance when interacting with its own periodic oscillations (pulsations) of the Earth's electric field. In the article “Controlled Lightning” dated March 8, 1904, N. Tesla wrote: “The discovery of terrestrial standing waves shows that despite its huge size (meaning the size of the Earth), the whole planet can be subjected to resonant vibrations like a small tuning fork, that electric vibrations, given in accordance with its physical characteristics and dimensions, pass through it unhindered. It is known that in their experiments, in order to achieve the phenomenon of resonance, N. Tesla and his assistants created artificial linear lightning (spark discharges) a little over 3 meters long with a very short duration) and an electric potential of more than fifty million volts.

And here a very interesting question arises: "Isn't the Tunguska meteorite a consequence of the resonant effect of natural linear lightning on the Earth's electric field?" The issue of the influence of artificial linear lightning created in the laboratory of N. Tesla on the appearance of the Tunguska meteorite is not considered here, since during the time associated with the events of the Tunguska meteorite, the laboratory of N. Tesla was no longer working.

Here is how they describe the events associated with the so-called Tunguska meteorite witnesses to this event. On June 17 (30), 1908, at about 7 o'clock in the morning, a huge fireball swept over the territory of the Yenisei River basin. His flight ended great strength an explosion that occurred at an altitude of 7 to 10 km from the surface of the Earth. The power of the explosion, as experts later determined, approximately corresponded to the power of an explosion of a hydrogen bomb from 10 to 40 megatons of TNT equivalent.

Let us pay special attention to the fact that this event occurred in the summer period, that is, during the formation of frequent summer thunderstorms, accompanied by lightning discharges. And we know that it was the discharges of linear lightning on the Earth's surface that could cause resonant phenomena inside the globe, which, in turn, could contribute to the formation of ball lightning of enormous electric power. As a confirmation of the version expressed, and not only by me, let us turn to the "Encyclopedic Dictionary": "Ball lightning is a luminous spheroid with a diameter of 10 cm or more, usually formed after a linear lightning strike and consisting, apparently, of non-equilibrium plasma." But that is not all. Let us turn to N. Tesla's article "Conversation with the Planet" dated February 9, 1901. Here is an excerpt from this article: "I have already demonstrated through decisive tests the practical feasibility of transmitting a signal using my system from one point to another point on the globe, no matter how far apart, and soon I will convert non-believers to my faith. I have everything reason to congratulate myself on the fact that in the course of these experiments, many of which were extremely subtle and risky, neither I nor my assistants received any injuries. unusual phenomena. Due to some interference of oscillations, real fireballs could jump out over great distances, and if someone were in their path or close, he would be instantly destroyed.

As we can see, it is still too early to rule out the possibility of the participation of ball lightning in the above-described events associated with the Tunguska meteorite. Frequent summer thunderstorms at this time of the year, linear lightning strikes could cause ball lightning, and it could occur far beyond the Yenisei River basin and then, "traveling" at great speed along the lines of force of the Earth's electric field, end up in that area where the above events took place.

Conclusion
Natural energetic resources The planets are inexorably shrinking. There are active searches alternative sources energy, allowing to come to replace the disappearing ones. It seems that the time has come to engage in deep research, both theoretically and practically, in determining the possibility of using the electrical potential of a natural generator of electrical energy in the interests of Man. And if it is confirmed that such a possibility exists, and, at the same time, the earth generator, as a result of using its energy, will not be harmed, then it is quite possible that the electric field of the Planets will serve people as one of the alternative energy sources.

Kleschevich V.A. September-November 2011 (Kharkov)

The continents at one time were formed from massifs of the earth's crust, which, to one degree or another, protrudes above the water level in the form of land. These blocks of the earth's crust have been splitting, moving, and crushing parts of them for more than one million years to appear in the form that we know now.

Today we will consider the largest and smallest thickness of the earth's crust and the features of its structure.

A little about our planet

At the beginning of the formation of our planet, multiple volcanoes were active here, there were constant collisions with comets. Only after the bombardment stopped, the hot surface of the planet froze.
That is, scientists are sure that initially our planet was a barren desert without water and vegetation. Where so much water came from is still a mystery. But not so long ago, large reserves of water were discovered underground, perhaps it was they who became the basis of our oceans.

Alas, all hypotheses about the origin of our planet and its composition are more assumptions than facts. According to the statements of A. Wegener, initially the Earth was covered with a thin layer of granite, which in the Paleozoic era was transformed into the mainland Pangea. In the Mesozoic era, Pangea began to split into parts, the formed continents gradually sailed away from each other. Pacific Ocean, states Wegener, is the remnant of the primary ocean, and the Atlantic and Indian are considered as secondary.

Earth's crust

The composition of the earth's crust is practically similar to the composition of the planets of our solar system - Venus, Mars, etc. After all, the same substances served as the basis for all the planets of the solar system. And recently, scientists are sure that the collision of the Earth with another planet, called Thea, caused the merger of two celestial bodies, and the Moon was formed from the broken fragment. This explains why the mineral composition of the moon is similar to that of our planet. Below we will consider the structure of the earth's crust - a map of its layers on land and in the ocean.

The crust makes up only 1% of the Earth's mass. It mainly consists of silicon, iron, aluminum, oxygen, hydrogen, magnesium, calcium and sodium, and 78 other elements. It is assumed that, in comparison with the mantle and core, the Earth's crust is a thin and fragile shell, consisting mainly of light substances. Heavy substances, according to geologists, descend to the center of the planet, and the heaviest are concentrated in the core.

The structure of the earth's crust and a map of its layers are shown in the figure below.

continental crust

The Earth's crust has 3 layers, each of which covers the previous one with uneven layers. Most of its surface is continental and oceanic plains. The continents are also surrounded by a shelf, which, after a steep bend, passes into the continental slope (the area of ​​the underwater margin of the continent).
earthly continental crust divided into layers:

1. Sedimentary.
2. Granite.
3. Basalt.

The sedimentary layer is covered with sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks. The thickness of the continental crust is the smallest percentage.

Types of continental crust

Sedimentary rocks are accumulations that include clay, carbonate, volcanogenic rocks, and other solids. This is a kind of sediment that was formed as a result of certain natural conditions that previously existed on earth. It allows researchers to draw conclusions about the history of our planet.

The granite layer consists of igneous and metamorphic rocks similar to granite in their properties. That is, not only granite makes up the second layer of the earth's crust, but these substances are very similar in composition to it and have approximately the same strength. The speed of its longitudinal waves reaches 5.5-6.5 km/s. It consists of granites, schists, gneisses, etc.

The basalt layer is composed of substances similar in composition to basalts. It is denser in comparison with the granite layer. A viscous mantle of solids flows under the basalt layer. Conventionally, the mantle is separated from the crust by the so-called Mohorovichich boundary, which, in fact, separates layers of different chemical composition. It is characterized by a sharp increase in the speed of seismic waves.
That is, a relatively thin layer of the earth's crust is a fragile barrier that separates us from the red-hot mantle. The thickness of the mantle itself is on average 3,000 km. Together with the mantle they move and tectonic plates, which, as part of the lithosphere, are a section of the earth's crust.

Below we consider the thickness of the continental crust. It is up to 35 km.

The thickness of the continental crust

The thickness of the earth's crust varies from 30 to 70 km. And if under the plains its layer is only 30-40 km, then under mountain systems reaches 70 km. Under the Himalayas, the thickness of the layer reaches 75 km.

The thickness of the continental crust is from 5 to 80 km and directly depends on its age. Thus, cold ancient platforms (East European, Siberian, West Siberian) have a fairly high thickness - 40-45 km.

Moreover, each of the layers has its own thickness and thickness, which can vary in different areas of the mainland.

The thickness of the continental crust is:

1. Sedimentary layer - 10-15 km.

2. Granite layer - 5-15 km.

3. Basalt layer - 10-35 km.

Temperature of the Earth's crust

The temperature rises as you go deeper into it. It is believed that the temperature of the core is up to 5,000 C, but these figures remain conditional, since its type and composition are still not clear to scientists. As you go deeper into the earth's crust, its temperature rises every 100 m, but its figures vary depending on the composition of the elements and depth. The oceanic crust has a higher temperature.

oceanic crust

Initially, according to scientists, the Earth was covered precisely with an oceanic layer of crust, which is somewhat different in thickness and composition from the continental layer. probably arose from the upper differentiated layer of the mantle, that is, it is very close to it in composition. The thickness of the earth's crust of the oceanic type is 5 times less than the thickness of the continental type. At the same time, its composition in deep and shallow areas of the seas and oceans differs insignificantly from each other.

Layers of the continental crust

The thickness of the oceanic crust is:

1. A layer of ocean water, the thickness of which is 4 km.

2. A layer of loose sediments. The thickness is 0.7 km.

3. A layer composed of basalts with carbonate and siliceous rocks. The average power is 1.7 km. It does not stand out sharply and is characterized by compaction of the sedimentary layer. This version of its structure is called suboceanic.

4. Basalt layer, not different from continental crust. The thickness of the oceanic crust in this layer is 4.2 km.

The basaltic layer of the oceanic crust in subduction zones (a zone in which one layer of the crust absorbs another) turns into eclogites. Their density is so high that they sink deep into the crust to a depth of more than 600 km, and then sink into the lower mantle.

Considering that the smallest thickness of the earth's crust is observed under the oceans and is only 5-10 km, scientists have long been nurturing the idea to start drilling the crust at the depth of the oceans, which would allow us to study in more detail internal structure Earth. However, the layer of the oceanic crust is very strong, and research at the depth of the ocean makes this task even more difficult.

Conclusion

The earth's crust is perhaps the only layer that has been studied in detail by mankind. But what is under it still worries geologists. One can only hope that one day the unexplored depths of our Earth will be explored.

THEM. Kapitonov

Earth's nuclear heat

Earth heat

The earth is a rather strongly heated body and is a source of heat. It heats up primarily due to the solar radiation it absorbs. But the Earth also has its own thermal resource comparable to the heat received from the Sun. It is believed that this own energy of the Earth has the following origin. The Earth arose about 4.5 billion years ago following the formation of the Sun from a protoplanetary gas-dust disk rotating around it and condensing. At an early stage of its formation, the earth's substance was heated up due to relatively slow gravitational compression. big role in thermal balance The earth was also played by the energy released when small cosmic bodies fell on it. Therefore, the young Earth was molten. Cooling down, it gradually came to its current state with a solid surface, a significant part of which is covered with oceanic and sea ​​waters. This hard outer layer called the earth's crust and on average, on land, its thickness is about 40 km, and under oceanic waters - 5-10 km. More deep layer The land called mantle also consists of a solid. It extends to a depth of almost 3000 km and contains the bulk of the Earth's matter. Finally, the innermost part of the Earth is its core. It consists of two layers - external and internal. outer core this is a layer of molten iron and nickel at a temperature of 4500-6500 K with a thickness of 2000-2500 km. inner core with a radius of 1000-1500 km is a solid iron-nickel alloy heated to a temperature of 4000-5000 K with a density of about 14 g / cm 3, which arose at a huge (almost 4 million bar) pressure.
In addition to the internal heat of the Earth, inherited from the earliest hot stage of its formation, and the amount of which should decrease with time, there is another, long-term, associated with the radioactive decay of nuclei with a long half-life - first of all, 232 Th, 235 U , 238 U and 40 K. The energy released in these decays - they account for almost 99% of the earth's radioactive energy - constantly replenishes the thermal reserves of the Earth. The above nuclei are contained in the crust and mantle. Their decay leads to heating of both the outer and inner layers of the Earth.
Part of the huge heat contained inside the Earth constantly comes out to its surface, often in very large-scale volcanic processes. The heat flow flowing from the depths of the Earth through its surface is known. It is (47±2)·10 12 watts, which is equivalent to the heat that can be generated by 50 thousand nuclear power plants (the average power of one nuclear power plant is about 10 9 watts). The question arises whether radioactive energy plays any significant role in the total thermal budget of the Earth, and if so, what role? The answer to these questions long time remained unknown. Now there are opportunities to answer these questions. The key role here belongs to neutrinos (antineutrinos), which are produced in the processes radioactive decay nuclei that make up the substance of the Earth and which are called geo-neutrino.

Geo-neutrino

Geo-neutrino is the combined name for neutrinos or antineutrinos, which are emitted as a result of the beta decay of nuclei located under the earth's surface. Obviously, due to the unprecedented penetrating ability, registration of these (and only them) by ground-based neutrino detectors can provide objective information about the processes of radioactive decay occurring deep inside the Earth. An example of such a decay is the β - decay of the 228 Ra nucleus, which is the product of the α decay of the long-lived 232 Th nucleus (see table):

The half-life (T 1/2) of the 228 Ra nucleus is 5.75 years, and the released energy is about 46 keV. The energy spectrum of antineutrinos is continuous with an upper limit close to the released energy.
The decays of 232 Th, 235 U, 238 U nuclei are chains of successive decays that form the so-called radioactive series. In such chains, α-decays are interspersed with β − -decays, since in α-decays the final nuclei turn out to be shifted from the β-stability line to the region of nuclei overloaded with neutrons. After a chain of successive decays at the end of each row, stable nuclei are formed with the number of protons and neutrons close to or equal to magic numbers (Z = 82,N= 126). Such final nuclei are stable isotopes of lead or bismuth. Thus, the decay of T 1/2 ends with the formation of the doubly magic nucleus 208 Pb, and on the path 232 Th → 208 Pb, six α-decays occur, alternating with four β - decays (in the chain 238 U → 206 Pb, eight α- and six β - - decays; there are seven α- and four β − decays in the 235 U → 207 Pb chain). Thus, the energy spectrum of antineutrinos from each radioactive series is a superposition of partial spectra from individual β − decays that make up this series. The spectra of antineutrinos produced in 232 Th, 235 U, 238 U, 40 K decays are shown in Figs. 1. The 40 K decay is a single β − decay (see table). the greatest energy(up to 3.26 MeV) antineutrinos reach in decay
214 Bi → 214 Po, which is a link in the 238 U radioactive series. The total energy released during the passage of all decay links in the 232 Th → 208 Pb series is 42.65 MeV. For the radioactive series 235 U and 238 U, these energies are 46.39 and 51.69 MeV, respectively. Energy released in decay
40 K → 40 Ca is 1.31 MeV.

Characteristics of 232 Th, 235 U, 238 U, 40 K nuclei

Core	Share in % in a mixture isotopes	Number of cores relates. Si nuclei	T 1/2 billion years	First links decay
232Th	100	0.0335	14.0
235 U	0.7204	6.48 10 -5	0.704
238 U	99.2742	0.00893	4.47
40K	0.0117	0.440	1.25

The estimate of the geo-neutrino flux, made on the basis of the decay of the 232 Th, 235 U, 238 U, 40 K nuclei contained in the composition of the Earth's matter, leads to a value of the order of 10 6 cm -2 sec -1 . By registering these geo-neutrinos, one can obtain information about the role of radioactive heat in the total heat balance of the Earth and test our ideas about the content of long-lived radioisotopes in the composition of terrestrial matter.

Rice. 1. Energy spectra of antineutrinos from nuclear decay

232 Th, 235 U, 238 U, 40 K normalized to one decay of the parent nucleus

The reaction is used to register electron antineutrinos

P → e + + n, (1)

in which this particle was actually discovered. The threshold for this reaction is 1.8 MeV. Therefore, only geo-neutrinos formed in decay chains starting from 232 Th and 238 U nuclei can be registered in the above reaction. The effective cross section of the reaction under discussion is extremely small: σ ≈ 10 -43 cm 2. Hence it follows that a neutrino detector with a sensitive volume of 1 m 3 will register no more than a few events per year. It is obvious that neutrino detectors are needed to reliably fix geo-neutrino fluxes. large volume housed in underground labs for maximum background protection. The idea to use detectors designed to study solar and reactor neutrinos for registration of geo-neutrinos arose in 1998. Currently, there are two large volume neutrino detectors using a liquid scintillator and suitable for solving the problem. These are the neutrino detectors of the KamLAND experiments (Japan, ) and Borexino (Italy, ). Below we consider the device of the Borexino detector and the results obtained on this detector on the registration of geo-neutrinos.

Borexino detector and registration of geo-neutrinos

The Borexino neutrino detector is located in central Italy in an underground laboratory under the Gran Sasso mountain range, whose mountain peaks reach 2.9 km (Fig. 2).

Rice. Fig. 2. Location diagram of the neutrino laboratory under the Gran Sasso mountain range (central Italy)

Borexino is a non-segmented massive detector whose active medium is
280 tons of organic liquid scintillator. It filled a nylon spherical vessel 8.5 m in diameter (Fig. 3). The scintillator was pseudocumene (C 9 H 12) with a spectrum-shifting PPO additive (1.5 g/l). The light from the scintillator is collected by 2212 eight-inch photomultipliers (PMTs) placed on a stainless steel sphere (SSS).

Rice. 3. Scheme of the device of the Borexino detector

A nylon vessel with pseudocumene is an internal detector whose task is to register neutrinos (antineutrinos). The inner detector is surrounded by two concentric buffer zones that protect it from external gamma rays and neutrons. The inner zone is filled with a non-scintillating medium consisting of 900 tons of pseudocumene with dimethyl phthalate additives to quench scintillations. The outer zone is located on top of the SNS and is a water Cherenkov detector containing 2000 tons of ultrapure water and cutting off signals from muons entering the facility from outside. For each interaction occurring in the internal detector, energy and time are determined. Calibration of the detector using various radioactive sources made it possible to very accurately determine its energy scale and the degree of reproducibility of the light signal.
Borexino is a very high radiation purity detector. All materials were rigorously selected, and the scintillator was cleaned to minimize the internal background. Because of its high radiation purity, Borexino is an excellent detector for detecting antineutrinos.
In reaction (1), the positron gives an instantaneous signal, which after some time is followed by the capture of a neutron by a hydrogen nucleus, which leads to the appearance of a γ-quantum with an energy of 2.22 MeV, which creates a signal delayed relative to the first one. In Borexino, the neutron capture time is about 260 μs. The instantaneous and delayed signals are correlated in space and time, providing accurate recognition of the event caused by e .
The threshold for reaction (1) is 1.806 MeV and, as can be seen from Fig. 1, all geo-neutrinos from the decays of 40 K and 235 U are below this threshold, and only a part of the geo-neutrinos that originated in the decays of 232 Th and 238 U can be detected.
The Borexino detector first detected signals from geo-neutrinos in 2010 and recently published new results based on observations over 2056 days from December 2007 to March 2015. Below we present the obtained data and the results of their discussion, based on article.
As a result of the analysis of experimental data, 77 candidates for electron antineutrinos that passed all the selection criteria were identified. The background from events simulating e was estimated by . Thus, the signal/background ratio was ≈100.
The main background source was reactor antineutrinos. For Borexino, the situation was quite favorable, since there are no nuclear reactors near the Gran Sasso laboratory. In addition, reactor antineutrinos are more energetic than geo-neutrinos, which made it possible to separate these antineutrinos from the positron by signal strength. The results of the analysis of the contributions of geo-neutrinos and reactor antineutrinos to the total number of recorded events from e are shown in Figs. 4. The number of registered geo-neutrinos given by this analysis (the shaded area corresponds to them in Fig. 4) is equal to . In the spectrum of geo-neutrinos extracted as a result of the analysis, two groups are visible - less energetic, more intense and more energetic, less intense. The authors of the described study associate these groups with the decays of thorium and uranium, respectively.
In the analysis under discussion, we used the ratio of the masses of thorium and uranium in the matter of the Earth
m(Th)/m(U) = 3.9 (in the table this value is ≈3.8). This figure reflects the relative content of these chemical elements in chondrites - the most common group of meteorites (more than 90% of meteorites that fell to Earth belong to this group). It is believed that the composition of chondrites, with the exception of light gases (hydrogen and helium), repeats the composition of the solar system and the protoplanetary disk from which the Earth was formed.

Rice. Fig. 4. Spectrum of the light output from positrons in units of the number of photoelectrons for antineutrino candidate events (experimental points). The shaded area is the contribution of geo-neutrinos. The solid line is the contribution of reactor antineutrinos.